Tips on defeating a phobos

Ask any question about playing and surviving in the Transcendence universe. Newbies welcome!
Post Reply
User avatar
Resident-Pyromaniac
Militia Lieutenant
Militia Lieutenant
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 5:11 pm
Location: Looting the Wreck of the CSC terra.

Everyone, I'm sure, has seen or heard of the Phobos. Wether in-game, on the forums, or in your nightmares, This Dreadnought has no doubt lodged itself in your subconcious. I have decided to help those newbies, and some veterans, on tips to destroying this monster. I ask anyone who has experience in battling the Phobos to post Helpful Thoughts here.
first, a description of the Phobos for those who haven't encountered one. It is a large, reddish brown Cruiser, With a tri-Jawed Cannon looking thing on the front. It is one of the largest and most powerful ships in the game.
The strategy on defeating this behemoth is tricky, Because it is armed with Dual Ares Lightning Turrets and an Arch Plasma cannon. It's armored with Thirty-six segments of Massive tharsis plate, But you probably will hit the "Maw" of the ship the most, so Armor isn't that big of a concern.
It's Shields are the Kaidun Shield Generator; arguably the Cruddiest Level 9 shields in the Game.(at least, they Were awful when I installed them on my ship) It still takes a beating, However.
The Big Tips are as follows:

Code: Select all

       

1: Do Not stand Still-
   The Ares Lightning turrets Are Omnidirectional, So you must be in motion at all times to dodge the Bursts of Ion Energy.

2: Bring Some Firepower-
   If your equipment is below level 8 on average, Do not engage the Phobos.
   Nemesis or Vulcan Missles are Probably the Best augment to Take one down.

3: Aim for the Jaws-
   The large Maw-like structure at the front of the Dreadnought are almost always pointing at you, So Aim for it. Also, This end is where the Plasma Fires from, Evasive action is Recommended. (see Tip #1)

4: Watch Your shields-
  No matter how advanced your armor, the Arch Plasma Cannon will obliterate it in a matter of seconds. Once your shields are down, Run, Use Restore, or Take the Phobos with you, Cuz you are hosed at that point.

all I could think of on short notice. Go and kill me some phobos!
If Transcendence was made in 3D, I would die of Happiness.



If you are reading this, then I have planted a deadly virus into your CPU. (not really, but you can never be too careful.)
Drako Slyith
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1036
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:28 am
Location: Researching how to make St. Kats star go supernova.
Contact:

I have a different tactic. First, get any omni weapon, so long as it is reasonable (at least particle damage). It also really, really helps if it has a long range) Get shields that are resistant to ion, or ion reflective armor. After finding a phobos, open fire at long range. Travel in a small circle, which fools the targeting system in Transcendence. Keep firing. It will start flying towards you. Fly away, but always keep within range of your weapon, and keep firing. Weave back and forth so the phobos can't get its ion cannnons to concentrate on you. It is inevitable that some shots will hit, but if you have +ion shields, it won't be a problem. Do not be hit by the plasma arch cannon. You can lead it to help, or keep firing until it dies. If you then fly out of the phobos's range for long enough, it will begin flying back to its base and ignore you. In this time it will only fire rarely on you, and never fire his heavy cannon on you. Here you can get out a heavy cannon you have and open up on the rear. It will fire its big gun if you get in front of it, so concentrate on the back.
Image
Image
Play in over 100 systems in a network. Play the 2011 Mod Of the Year
and the highest rated mod on Xelerus, The Network.
Play the July Mod of the Month, Fellow Pilgrims!
Play My other mods as well
(Drako Slyith)* I am a person
(Eliza chatbot)> Do you believe it is normal to be a person?
erik dela cruz
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 614
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:45 pm
Location: Patrolling Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys Islands (West Philippine Sea)

Hmmm... I got 'em only once with a barrage of Rasiermesser launched nukes, enhanced Fusionfire Howitzer and Ferian Plasma Cannon (from a defeated warrior) and yes I hit 'em hard up front while retreating. :)
.....cry without weeping......
.....talk without speaking......
.....scream without raising your voice......
shanejfilomena
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1533
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:43 pm
Location: Alaska
Contact:

My Best Tactical Experience is RUN !!!!!!!!:) ( but not really.....)
Actually it was not ( amazingly ) until I read the way this is worded that I realized why are all driven to stronger and stronger ships to challenge the Pilot : the ICS is only ONE ship, the Phobos can be MANY and those who have run to the Carriers for help and watch them explode trying to help you out......well this just means the player has to have inspiration to Arm up faster and better : thus, the mods for strong ships.....so the Player does not get forgetful of the Beasties Within.
My own Hostile V6 has just lost it's Lightning Cannon , I am sure it will be upset , it was to be a Forerunner to the Deimos but it was Tanking Brits ( 5 at a time ) and thats not good for game gun power ( regardless of the presence of Sandstorms, the V6 somehow was more powerful with an Omni Lightning Canon then it's Ares Brothers )

The Phobos itself has ONE MAJOR WEAKNESS : which is the same weakness that makes the Brits so effective : and what makes the Aquila so powerful : ION weapons.
The BEST defense without the Rins to buy the Ion Reflector ( and use Longzhu Spheres to power up the hitpoints): an Omni tev9 and stay on the move ; a good hiding spot and a Katana ; Or just plain anything that can get the Phobos to chase you toward the Ringers ( they will take care of it : but do not think the Ringers are never destroyed by Ares : a Phobos and three Deimos = no Ringer/ little loot and you STILL have a Deimos to deal with ( been there, done that : twice to make sure it really happens ))
Flying Irresponsibly In Eridani......

I don't like to kill pirates in cold blood ..I do it.. but I don't like it..
User avatar
Song
Fleet Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 2801
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:27 am

I think Wolfy's the expert on killing phobos....personally, I keep my distance most of the time.
Mischievous local moderator. She/Her pronouns.
User avatar
Resident-Pyromaniac
Militia Lieutenant
Militia Lieutenant
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 5:11 pm
Location: Looting the Wreck of the CSC terra.

Hmm. Omni weapons work Okay, but then you can't say you killed one with skill.
If Transcendence was made in 3D, I would die of Happiness.



If you are reading this, then I have planted a deadly virus into your CPU. (not really, but you can never be too careful.)
IceMephit
Militia Lieutenant
Militia Lieutenant
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:46 pm
Location: Maine

I found that the Lamplighter, Omni TeV9 (+100% or better), Circle of Wrath and Shatter is a great way to deal with them. (although my wingmen may disagree, if they hadn't been Shattered along with the Phobos.......... :lol: )
For Sale: One slightly used EI500 freighter. Hull damaged, primary weapon defective, shields inoperable. Must be towed to Dry-dock. Make an offer!!
erik dela cruz
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 614
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:45 pm
Location: Patrolling Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys Islands (West Philippine Sea)

Update: Destroyed Phobos in last game : 15 including 3 CSC missions. I did the same tactic I described earlier but with IM90 with weak enhancement BUT Ares micronukes helped a lot and with Plasma Cannon (got from Gaians) . :)
.....cry without weeping......
.....talk without speaking......
.....scream without raising your voice......
User avatar
Aury
Fleet Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 5421
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:10 am
Location: Somewhere in the Frontier on a Hycrotan station, working on new ships.

Phoboses have logdged themselves in my subconscious... as my prey.

With an IM90+150% (nearly 500DPS) & a Taikon 200 +150% (nearly 1000HP and a lot of regen/sec), nothing can stand in my way. I took on 2 phoboses and 4 deimoses at once, without a scratch on my paint.
(shpOrder gPlayership 'barrelRoll)
(plySetGenome gPlayer (list 'Varalyn 'nonBinary))
Homelab Servers: Xeon Silver 4110, 16GB | Via Quadcore C4650, 16GB | Athlon 200GE, 8GB | i7 7800X, 32GB | Threadripper 1950X, 32GB | Atom x5 8350, 4GB | Opteron 8174, 16GB | Xeon E5 2620 v3, 8GB | 2x Xeon Silver 4116, 96GB, 2x 1080ti | i7 8700, 32GB, 6500XT
Workstations & Render machines: Threadripper 3990X, 128GB, 6900XT | Threadripper 2990WX, 32GB, 1080ti | Xeon Platinum 8173M, 48GB, 1070ti | R9 3900X, 16GB, Vega64 | 2x E5 2430L v2, 24GB, 970 | R7 3700X, 32GB, A6000
Gaming Systems: R9 5950X, 32GB, 6700XT
Office Systems: Xeon 5318Y, 256GB, A4000
Misc Systems: R5 3500U, 20GB | R5 2400G, 16GB | i5 7640X, 16GB, Vega56 | E5 2620, 8GB, R5 260 | P4 1.8ghz, 0.75GB, Voodoo 5 5500 | Athlon 64 x2 4400+, 1.5GB, FX 5800 Ultra | Pentium D 3.2ghz, 4GB, 7600gt | Celeron g460, 8GB, 730gt | 2x Athlon FX 74, 8GB, 8800gts 512 | FX 9590, 16GB, R9 295x2 | E350, 8GB | Phenom X4 2.6ghz, 16GB, 8800gt | random core2 duo/atom/i5/i7 laptops
Rowanthepreacher
Miner
Miner
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 8:55 am

I've always had them as CSC missions, so I just sit on a nearby planet or other indestructible area and let the CSC wear it down over the course of many minutes. Powering down all equipment keeps energy loss to a minimum during this time.
User avatar
quils3
Miner
Miner
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:36 pm
Location: Stuck in hyper space

:) i love killing phobi my tactics are to use thier ares lightning turets and use them........
slowly leading them to a ringer shipyard :)
PM
Fleet Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 2570
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:54 am

When I first fought the Phobos, I pretended I was playing Star Control. The Phobos is the Ur-Quan Dreadnought (minus launch fighters special ability) and my ship is a Spathi or Syreen (or any ship with more speed and range than the Dreadnought). The Phobos is just as dumb as an Ur-Quan piloted by an AI. I fly away from the Phobos, turn around, and fire with a howitzer or lancer as my ship drifts backwards. Phobos dies after a while.
Download and Play in 1.9 beta 1...
Drake Technologies (Alpha): More hardware for combat in parts 1 and 2!
Star Castle Arcade: Play a classic arcade game adventure, with or without more features (like powerups)!
Playership Drones: Buy or restore exotic ships to command!

Other playable mods from 1.8 and 1.7, waiting to be updated...
Godmode v3 (WIP): Dev/cheat tool compatible with D&O parts 1 or 2.
User avatar
Wurmish
Militia Lieutenant
Militia Lieutenant
Posts: 174
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 2:26 am
Location: A tesseract

It's been a little while since I played, but my Phobos killing strategy is pretty straightforward:

Get a weapon with recoil and shoot to run away. Circle like mad when the turret go off, and avoid being perfectly in front of the Phobos. Don't need enhanced weapons, just patience and a little fuel if my equipment is around level 8-9.

The death explosion is very satisfying.
My first mod, mostly done, still balance testing.
http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=789
User avatar
Ttech
Fleet Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:03 am
Location: Traveling in the TARDIS
Contact:

The Phobos is the Cat... You are the mouse... That is the easiest way.
Image
Image
Nill
Militia Lieutenant
Militia Lieutenant
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:38 pm
Location: Blowing up commonwealth

All i need to kill a phobos is a Fusionfire Howitzer(non enchanted(Most of the times))and a Iocrym Veil(the shield)
I Hate This Game="Nill"
YAY NYAN CAT IS IN TRANS http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=949
♫♫♫♫♫
♫ /l
(゚、 。 7
 l、 ~ヽ
 じしf_, )ノ
In IRC you'll hear great thing like this
[19:41] Azar_Wolf |oh derp, will have to leave in 10 minutes
[19:41] Ttech |NOQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
[19:41] Ttech |eats Azar_Wolf
[19:41] Azar_Wolf |...
[19:41] Ttech |And spits out a ... uh...
[19:41] Ttech |I don't know
[19:41] Ttech |Its a blob
[19:42] Azar_Wolf |eww
[19:42] sdw195 |...
Post Reply