Whats the best way to destroy the Alien craft? I seem to get smashed everytime I try to kill one of them, never been able to kill even one of them. Any help?

There have been a number of topics in the past about this, and there's no real consensus on the best ways to deal with them. This topic might be helpful, among others. Good to see someone playing the original EV campaigns.

And keep in mind that you're never required to destroy any alien fighter. The general consensus is that their speed and quick shield regeneration makes them substantially harder than the cruiser, and they don't do anything interesting for your combat rating.

Plug-in for nova, had it on my mac way back in the day and it was one of my goals to beat that blasted ship. I remember it was tough but couldn't picture it. Looks like lazer cannons and jav rockets are the way to the heart of it. Thank you for your replies.

There is no way to take this thing out. It destroys me instantly. I'm not retarded, i get behind it, can't out flank the fighters since they are just as fast as me even with a fully upgraded ship. Instant rape always.

EDIT: hired plenty of escorts and spacebombs, fixed teh problem >:|

This post has been edited by Fr33m4n : 23 March 2011 - 10:22 PM

I always loved how those ships beeline for you in EVC for EVN, because it means you can do a bombing run and kill stuff instantly, as long as you stay in a straight line.

It's rather easier actually.

I've done it in a kestral numerous time I think once in a corvette too.

Rebel line: Get down the side of it and lock it in place with your tractor beam procede to decimate with turrets/guns (I rarely use missiles of any kind). Make sure you're still floating through space so the fighters dont just paste you.

Confed line: I think there's a little glitch for this. If you fly around it you can hit a certain point where you're always at the same distance away and yet it can barely hit you, again you're floating through space at an angle hence why I'd call it a glitch.

@undead_shadow, on 04 April 2011 - 06:46 AM, said in Aliens:

ebel line: Get down the side of it and lock it in place with your tractor beam procede to decimate with turrets/guns (I rarely use missiles of any kind). Make sure you're still floating through space so the fighters dont just paste you.

^ This.
You just pull up along side them and broadside away!

Javelins help, too. Really, they can be deadly at close range. And the Confed string gets you the Particle Beam, which if you're fast enough lets you do some decent damage as you spin behind them. The Particle Beam also has a slightly longer range than the alien Heavy Fusion Beam, allowing you to hit the cruiser while not being hit in return.

I joined this forum specifically to ask this question! There are some useful suggestions both here and in the other thread linked to above, so thank you. I've had no luck at all against the alien cruiser so far, so I'm looking forward to trying some of these out when I get home tonight.

We're glad to be of service. And welcome to the boards, Shallowthing!

Thank you!

My main concern with facing the alien cruiser is that it's so fast and manoeuvrable that none of my tactics for tackling big ships seem to work. Normally I use the speed and agility of my modified Kestrel to stand off until all the target's expendable munitions are used up, then close the distance and pound it to death with my turrets and neutron cannons. Against the alien cruiser, this results in death in seconds from that beam weapon.

I then tried refitting my Kestrel as a torpedo boat - basically stripping everything out and replacing it with torpedo tubes and a hundred-plus torpedoes, so I could stay out of beam range and hit repeatedly from a safe distance. No good either: The blasted thing is so manoeuvrable that barely any of the torpedoes can catch it.

My next idea was to switch to guided missiles: Two racks and almost a hundred and fifty missiles. This went better, in that I managed to get the cruiser's shields down to single figures, but then I ran out of missiles and had nothing else to throw at it.

My escorts and fighters have proved pretty useless, in that they don't even seem to be able to catch the thing.

It might be worth noting that I haven't got the tractor beam yet. I was under the impression that I had complete the Astrodyne missions some time ago, but I was never offered the device. All very frustrating!

Shallowthing, I'm in the same boat as you, no tractor beam on my Kestel and I don't seem to be getting many regular missions that could offer it. Annoying.
I have managed to pretty easily destroy the Alien cruiser in the end though this Saturday afternoon. I just totally striped my Kestrel, and like your idea made it into a torpedo boat. 180 torps, 2 launchers. You're right, a lot will get off course/hit asteroids, but keep pounding away, i did it with about 5-10 torps to spare. If you can get it to follow you in a straight line just 'coast' floating and turn your ship backwards so you're facing the crusier (at a decent distance, not too close!) and fire off loads of the things. I'd have no worries if I had to face it again, it works reliably, tried it twice (first cos i'd onlygot 120 torps, and ran out when he had 5-10% shields left). Stay away from the fighters.
I'm suprised no one else seems to have done this, i can't imagine killing that thing with turrets!

P.s. is there much else to do once the Alien is destroyed, I've bought a rebel cruiser, now what?

This post has been edited by reversepolarity : 14 June 2012 - 02:41 AM

I remember doing this mission when I had EV on a Mac LCII (don't ask!). As far as I can remember I afterburned around it and closed in to point blank range and then sat literally over the top of it in a dance of death, blasting away with proton turrets until it died.

If you're playing using the EVN conversion, another interesting tactic you might try is to utilize a double-bay Kestrel. That is, equip a Kestrel with a Hawk bay in addition to your original Lightning Bay. Launch all your fighters out while waiting at maximum missile distance away and tell them to attack. They should then launch off all their missiles (don't worry if the Lightnings do or don't launch their heavy rockets) then recall them. They'll dock, rearm and be ready for relaunch in a few seconds. Rise and repeat for an unlimited supply of missiles. And yes, this tactic works equally well for planetary domination. It may work for regular EV, I just can't remember if fighters rearm after being recalled.

(Edit) I adapted this tactic from the EVN Aurora Carriers which constantly spawn Phoenix bombers at you in endless bombing runs until either you die, or you manage to kill them all (or the carrier!)

This post has been edited by jos840 : 14 June 2012 - 06:16 AM

Since I posted yesterday, I was last night finally offered the Astrodyne V mission. I picked up the rebel commando team from the fringe world and rushed them back to Palshife, but I still haven't received the tractor beam, so I guess there's still more to do. I'm just filling up time hunting pirates and getting into punch-ups with the Confederates when they (like clockwork) attack whichever rebel world I've touched down on.

I'm going to put off confronting the alien cruiser again until I've got the tractor beam, and if that still doesn't work I'll try the "torpedo boat" idea again, followed by Jos840's "fleet carrier" suggestion. The other option I thought of is using my big stash of credits (about twenty-five million) to hire an all-Kestrel escort fleet and try that...

My frustrations with destroying the alien cruiser aside, I'm really enjoying playing Escape Velocity properly. I had a brief bash at it around 1997 on a Mac that belonged to the father of a kid I was at school with, but it's only in the last week or two that I've discovered that Nova is PC-compatible and that the total conversion of the first game exists!

@shallowthing, on 14 June 2012 - 07:32 AM, said in Aliens:

I'm really enjoying playing Escape Velocity properly. I had a brief bash at it around 1997 on a Mac that belonged to the father of a kid I was at school with, but it's only in the last week or two that I've discovered that Nova is PC-compatible and that the total conversion of the first game exists!

Me too, I'm more or less in the same boat, had access to a Mac '96-'99, and sadly in 2000 i never thought i'd see EV again. skip to a few months ago, when I registered EVN and straight away got the EVC plug in. It's awesome to play it again. Lots of great childhood memories and it still stands up really well as a fantastic game, it's a pity it never got quite the recognition it would have if it had initially come out for Windows PC's, I've never met anyone in life who has a clue what it is, except for the one middle school friend I introduced to it.

P.S no spoilers please, but are there any more major missions to do after defeating the Aliens for the Rebels? It feels a bit weird, like what about taking on the confeds!?

This post has been edited by reversepolarity : 15 June 2012 - 10:40 AM

The answer is "no". There may be other not-so-major strings you have not completed yet, such as the Rebel Munitions or Artemis strings...

Thanks Geek
I've done the Artemis string, which was fantastic, but it's nice to know there's probably others. It's the game that keeps on giving.

This post has been edited by reversepolarity : 16 June 2012 - 03:53 AM

Well, I cracked it. I got the tractor beam eventually, but it proved useless: The cruiser just turns round and gives you a tasty helping of death-by-beam-weapon.

What worked in the end was a modified version of the "torpedo boat" idea, and the revelation that different portions of your escort fleet can be assigned different targets.

1. Jump into the system.
2. Immediately veer off, using afterburner if necessary, and RUN AWAY until the cruiser has used up all its seeker drones.
3. Order all escorts to hold position well away from the aliens.
4. Keep running until the cruiser has launched all three fighters.
5. Lock on to each fighter in turn, and then send in a portion of the escorts to deal with each. I put my medium ships (a pair of corvettes) on to one, my freighters (three clippers) on to a second, and my fighters (three Lightnings) onto the other.
6. Transfer the lock to the cruiser, RUN AWAY in a straight line, and commence pounding it with torpedoes. It takes well over a hundred and twenty before it goes down, but go down it goes.
7. Even when the cruiser is marked as destroyed and your scanner resets to "No Target", hang around (dodging the alien fighters, which your escorts will have done no more than annoy) until you see it explode, then jump out of the system before the alien fighters get you.

I learned about point seven there the hard way: I destroyed the alien cruiser, jumped out of the system to get my ship refitted, then jumped back in on my way to Palshife to find the bloody thing waiting for me with full shields and generally Not Being Dead. Nasty surprise! Thankfully it was rather easier to take down the second time, thanks to a Confederate fleet jumping in out of the blue and a pair of frigates getting stuck into it...

I finished the Artemis string too. The climax of that was as exciting as it was unexpected!

As for the Rebel munitions string, does it actually have an end beyond repeatedly being sent out as a glorified delivery boy?

This post has been edited by Shallowthing : 17 June 2012 - 07:53 AM

It should be noted you can only divide your fleet to go after multiple targets in EVN and, therefore, the EVC port to EVN. Original EVC did not have this feature. Additionally, the Tractor Beam is much more useful in the original EVC, as it slows down the turning ability of any ship caught in its effects. This was removed in EVN, but in EVC it essentially made the Alien Cruiser immobile. You could simply sit behind it and fire whatever you liked into its backside until it succumbed.