and killing the Dreadnought therewith

Step 1: Buy a shuttle. Don't buy any outfits at all. Not so much as an afterburner or IFF decoder. Certainly not any armor or shielding. Nothing.

Step 2: Kill the Dreadnought.

The first two times I tried I got roasted. Third time I was lucky and a passing UE Carrier took out the Interceptors for me. I Monty Pythoned the Dreadnought with my single Blaze Cannon. Tragically, I let my foe get too close, and, though I dodged the first salvo of rockets, the Enhanced Neutron Turret blasts shredded me.

I kept trying and kept failing. I found that I could take a single Interceptor easily enough, and two at once if I was careful. Three would kill me though, and ten gave me no chance. Since they are faster than me, and since my blaze cannon knocks them back, I was unable to string them out and fight them one at a time.

Suddenly I had an epiphany. I got a new pilot, went through the Igazra string to get the Plasma Siphon, bought a shuttle, and did the Observe Voinian research Base mission. With the irremoveable Siphon and the temporary Cloaking Device I was ready to try the Dreadnought again.

It certainly isn't easy, when compared to other methods of fighting that Voinian capital ship. A Krait has no trouble when you give it dospect armor. A plain old Freighter can smite the Dreadnought with ease once it has a neutron turret and some mobility upgrades. The stock shuttle, though, is a true challenge, and a challenge which I have barely met with the aid of mission-granted outfits.

Incidentally, it wasn't until this afternoon that I learned the Plasma Siphon also functions as a fuel scoop, and the Cloaking Device decreases the no-jump radius. The Nebula Penetration Device, too, minifies the no-jump radius, though to a lesser degree than the aforementioned cloak.

Anyway, I just figured I'd throw this feat out there, and ask if anyone has ever taken on the Dreadnought in a stock shuttle and reached a successful conclusion. So... have you?

I have to say I've never thought to try ... but good on you for thinking of it, and well done! How long did it take in the end? The plasma siphon is a wonder! As for outfits reducing the no-jump radius, are you playing EVO on Nova? I certainly never noticed that ... didn't even think the Override engine allowed for such things to be changed ... hmmm.

Anyway, when you say 'A plain old Freighter', maybe your next challenge should be with a stock one of those ;).

MartiNZ, on Apr 21 2005, 04:57 PM, said:

I have to say I've never thought to try ... but good on you for thinking of it, and well done! How long did it take in the end? The plasma siphon is a wonder! As for outfits reducing the no-jump radius, are you playing EVO on Nova? I certainly never noticed that ... didn't even think the Override engine allowed for such things to be changed ... hmmm.

Anyway, when you say 'A plain old Freighter', maybe your next challenge should be with a stock one of those ;).
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I'm playing EVO 1.0.2 with no plugins. I didn't time the fight, but the interceptors fell within a couple of minutes, and the mothership lasted maybe 10 or 15 under continuous fire. Of course, I could be way off on my estimates, and the fight might have actually lasted three weeks...

ModType 23 for outfits increases or decreases the safe jump radius. The UE Cloak has a that in its second ModType field with a ModVal of -500 (I think it's five hundred, anyway,) and the NPD has -200 (again, I think that's the correct value. I looked at them yesterday.) The standard radius is 1000 pixels.

Let's see... a stock freighter is weaponless, so I'd rely entirely on the siphon... its inate fuel regeneration might partially offset the use of the plasma siphon (unless player ships don't take advantage of that... I can't remember.) It may be possible, unless the Dreadnought recovers its armor faster than the plasma siphon deals damage, factoring in missed shots, time spent recovering fuel, and time spent maneuvering in space to stay the proper distance from the target. I'll have to check...

Bah, it's not stock if it has outfits on it, and the plasma siphon and cloaking device are outfits...

Never with a stock shuttle. Tried it with a modified UE fighter. Got it disabled before a Voinian cruiser jumped into the system. Toast, I was.

I ended up rethinking my methods and doing some missions until I could get a UE destroyer. Took it down with that, stock. Not a great accomplishment, but I was moving up in the ranks before I decided to play out the UE missions. I had somewhere around 10 mil in the bank before I started killing Voinians.

/me suggests using an OS earlier than 8. I don't know why, but it seems that they outrange you when you're in 8, and it's more fair in 7(.5, anyway).

Actually, a stock Miranu freighter might be able to do it. I dare you to try with the Heavy, or the Emalgha freighter.

The Apple Cřre, on May 3 2005, 12:58 PM, said:

/me suggests using an OS earlier than 8. I don't know why, but it seems that they outrange you when you're in 8, and it's more fair in 7(.5, anyway).

Actually, a stock Miranu freighter might be able to do it. I dare you to try with the Heavy, or the Emalgha freighter.
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What about giving the Krait only one blaze cannon? It's not stock, but it'd be hard.

btmaisel, on May 3 2005, 10:01 AM, said:

What about giving the Krait only one blaze cannon? It's not stock, but it'd be hard.
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That would not, methinks, be any harder than using a stock shuttle. It would, in fact, be much, much easier, because the krait is faster than the Voinian interceptors. What makes killing the Dreadnought in a shuttle, especially a stock shuttle, so much of a challenge —so very much more difficult than almost anything else in the game that anyone has ever done— is having to killing ten fighters that are faster than you and that have enough firepower to destroy you with a couple of rockets or a few rounds of neutron fire.

Really, the firepower doesn't matter so much, but the speed is of vital importance. The Dreadnought herself is easy enough to kill through extended Monty Pythoning, even though she has extraordinary firepower, because she can be outrun by nearly any ship. It is the speed of her fighters that makes defeating her with a stock shuttle so exhilerating.

Good luck to you in all you attempt.

Qaanol, on May 3 2005, 03:05 PM, said:

What makes killing the Dreadnought in a shuttle, especially a stock shuttle, so much of a challenge —so very much more difficult than almost anything else in the game that anyone has ever done— is having to killing ten fighters that are faster than you and that have enough firepower to destroy you with a couple of rockets or a few rounds of neutron fire.

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Not to be offensive, but are we talking about the same mission? Whenever I go up against the Dreadnought, the UE folks usually take care of the interceptors for me. I just get left with a "shields down" dreadnought.

I think the override world has gone mad... mad.... ...

-gav

oh yea, well I killed the dreadnaught in a EVC DEFENDER!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

But having unremovable mission related outfits, no matter if you buy a stock shuttle or not, what you end up flying in no longer becomes a stock shuttle.

Try killing the dreadnought again, without the syphon, without the nebula penetration device, and certainly without the cloaking device, then you will have everyone think you're cool hehe.

BTW, did you try getting the mission to drop off the Voinian defector to Paaren Station, as well as getting the mission to raid a supply convoy, and the pre-emptive attack, or do you consider that as cheating?

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 14 May 2005 - 06:34 PM