[SC] Advice needed! (and info)

Hello! I'm a player who has recently returned to DO, being a 2 year veteran who never really got anywhere. After the Auction House change, I've decided to have another go at this game, and see if I can actually make some real progress.

As it currently stands, I am FE. My current goals are to maximize my stats without going UFE, which will take way too much effort/funding. I want to unlock and try as much content in the game as I can, and be in a position where I can (more) effectively PvP.

I own all the major ships except the Citadel, which I am saving up for so I can increase my income from the Skylab (which is pretty well built, all 20 or very close except for prom and seprom refineries, which are 16 and 12 respectively).

I currently fly an Aegis, which I really enjoy, but I want to get more aggressive in my playstyle. I am aiming to get a couple of the skill designs, but I haven't been able to make up my mind. Same goes for drone formations.

My pilot bio could use a lot of work, as I only have 11PP. But I don't bother bidding for log disks on AH unless it's cheap, since I'm saving up.

My pet is lvl 6, and all I'm using him for is afk looting and increasing my cargo bay. I might get premium, and if so I'll consider getting kami. But definitely not until he hits 8!

I've mentioned the choices I'm stuck on are skill designs and drone formations. Here's what I currently in mind:

Sentinel + Crab/Diamond for shield tanking, but the thing is I can just use Aegis instead. The shielding ability basically gives 2.5k shield/sec. To get a 5k shield regen I'll need to put shields on ship + half of my drones, which will leave me slower than a turtle on antidepressants.

Spectrum: I know the Prismatic shielding is very effective, but I'm not at the point where I can sacrifice 50% damage and still fight effectively. And besides surviving teamfights and ambushes I don't see much use for it.

Solace: just no.

Venom/Diminisher + Moth/Drill: this is what's giving me a headache. I know the Venom is next to useless in PvP, and the Diminisher has a pretty ugly downside, but I'd much rather have an offensive skill. Both are also great for PvE. As for the drone formations, I really don't know. Should I pair them up accordingly? Or mix them up?

I could also use some info from players regarding the skill cooldowns. What happens if you use a skill, go back to base and switch designs? I'm guessing the cooldown will still be active, but what if you switch between designs with a 20min skill CD and a 15min skill CD?

I know a lot of people love the heart design, but to be honest is 60k more hp and some shields really gonna make that big of a difference? One volley from a UFE would rip right through that.

Another question: is Leo + Chevron hunting really viable? I did the math and the damages are pretty impressive, but then again, it IS a leo. I used to fly one and it was basically GG whenever I saw an enemy goli. Insta-shields and back-up shields helped but more often than not I'd find myself turned into a miniature supernova and left berating myself for wandering out too far. (I was sub-elite back then, budding into a FE, so I was no weakling)

Thanks in advance

 

Okay I can not help much with the formations, but have been informed they are pretty much useless, except for doing gates. As far as enjoying the game I am flying a Goli FE short Bio and seem to always find the UFE player who can pop me before I get to the portal to jump. As such unless you have friends in the game (that will fly with you) you will find the game has become a Hunt or be HUNTED game. The maps have become deserted with the "improvements" that have been implemented recently. Getting help doing quests is SLIM at best and have found I am wasting too much time trying to get people to group up and if they do group up they have their own agenda and if it fits with yours you got lucky, but usually you might get a few kills and then they have to leave or something so you are back to doing it on your own.

If it was me I would work on getting FAT LASERS and BUBBLE SHIELD before even thinking about getting the specialty ships. Flying ODD ships puts a target on your back as the UPPER LEVEL missions have you being pegged for death as the players have to do so much PvP to get their missions done. The Leo FE'd in the HOME/lower maps is a nice feature with the home map advantages but the again there are quests searching for Leo's so be ready to run like heck. Hangars are cheap, now, less than 50 K Uridium and you have 10, so changing ships is easy.

I believe if you change Skill Designs the cool down continues to run on the used design but the new designs ability can be used immediately. Venom ability is great if you are at Pirate base and you use it on enemy while they are attacking an NPC, they can not attack you but you are draining their HP otherwise you have to make sure you do not die, EMP you, or they do not jump as it is wasted as soon as target is lost.

The bad thing about the current game profile is if you want to survive a battle you need to have 2 defenders with you or be UFE to have a chance at surviving an enemy attack, and to get UFE you are spending MAJOR cash to get LF-4's to replace LF-3's. Do not buy anything for the PET until he is level 10 as the level 2 items do not repay what you spent for the 2 levels you are going to use them, get EP boosters and Veteran Design until you get the PET to level 10 (he gets 5% of all awarded EP as long as he is activated when it is issued), this includes GG awarded EP. And if planning on using KAMI do not have the PET Repairer equipped, TOO EASY to accidentally repair him and he does not pop if too much health.

Hope I was able to give a little insight.

 

from what youve rote hear it seems like your not short on how to to progress with exsperience im sure ull learn yourself mate i dont wanna take the fun out of the game for u

 

in terms of drone formation...in my opinion,first to buy are heart, moth , ring ,drill....
rest of them,kind of useless...
those one,works fine in pairs,heart/moth,and ring/drill,on difreant configs....(sorry my aproximate englease)

ring is great for kami in gates...it is allso great with aegishis ,who can sustain hp against moth.

agree with iou about venom...right now,becomes useles in pvp( allot of em mines colected )...but stiil,can be used against bots and npc's

 

Thanks for all the responses, guys!

Very true. I need to find myself a good clan, especially an English-speaking one! XD

Hm, I've never really looked at the ring formation. 120% is huge, and I'll be able to hit over 1 mil shields.

I forgot to ask: does the Sentinel Fortress ability give 30% more shield or reduce damage toward shields by 30%?

 

More shield but reduces damage I believe.

 

25% less damage,5% less speed,and reload time of all rochets increased by 25%.....
well,none of that needet whend wait in the middle of npc to detonate kamikaze modul of the pet....there,those 120% of shild are the best...
again,sorry for my englease

 

another good thing about ring is if you need to fly away and rep your shield in ring formation you can rep to about 1/3 shield then switch back to a formation with not so much damage reduction and have full shields in 1/3rd of the time

ships with ability's the defensive ones are ok i run spectrum cant say how many times it let me survive to get the kill. The offensive ones are too easily countered one emp and you waiting for cool down.

 

That's only Venom tho. I hear Diminisher can only be countered by a backup shield, but I don't know how that works.

Spectrum duration is also only 30 seconds, whereas the 2 mentioned above are 1 minute.

Even fully boosted, I can only hit about 35k, and if I use prismatic shielding that will be halved to 17.5k, which is too garbage to kill anything, really.

 

yes i agree the damage output is horrible but to last long enough to turn the tide of the battle its priceless ill have to test diminisher out on that