How to deal with Dwarg masters?

[Frits]

Now i've died one too many times by these vile ships with their blue tracking shots. Died thrice even cos i also used insurance which i had just bought in Katherine's. The next system was Jotunheim and as if fighting heliotropes and destroying Sung fortresses isn't enough of a challenge i get to deal with fleets of Dwarg.
I was playing a freighter which may be harder cos it's slower and a bigger target for the little Dwarg's cannons. But i have died a lot from them i recall also when playing Sapphires. Defended with a Yoroi s500 and four blastplates, maybe some good coating helps?
Which weapons are the best against them?
What will happen is that i start attacking them from a large distance and slowly i or they move closer and my shield will go down, then i turn tail and sometimes i'll run into another master which paralyzes me and i get killed like a sitting, more like spinning duck. A large group of windslavers can hurt as well... or heliotropes. The span of time i remain paralyzed seems to last for ages, what can i do about that?

[Yugi]

See, this is why I always have a jumpdrive installed if I can.

I very rarely get paralyzed by the Dwarg Masters anyway.

[hex]

I know the feeling Frits

The only thing I can think of (apart from the jumpdrive like Yugi says) is the ICX rocket shooter down thingey although this doesn't get every shot it dose cut them down a bit.

Or you could mod it out

[dvlenk6]

I had many problems with them also.
Came close to writing them out of the xml

s500 shield is virtually useless against the Dwarg. Get a Nephren P25, the ion resistance will do well holding off the Cnydocist bolts. It isn't quite as good as the s500 for some things. It has great particle resistance too, so it is also good against the Sung and Heliotropes.
Ion Reflection is the Holy Grail vs. Dwarg Masters.

I haven't noticed the ICX does anything. It always manages to miss the Cnydocist bolt for some reason.

Masters are fast and have 'stand-off' orders, so you need engine upgrades to run them down. Once you catch them:

They reflect most particle damage. They have high resistance to laser and kinetic.
Blast or thermo damage will finish the disgusting things off.
An Akan 600 turret will shred them; it is the only practical omni that will do it (cause you probably won't have an omni Ion cannon at that point).
SmartCannon does a good job.
Howitzers will kill them quickly.
Mags and Missiles finish them quickly too. Frags especially.
Any flyswatter type weapon will do the raider swarms in.

[Boris the Cat]

They can paralyze you?

I've never been paralyzed by them before, praise the fickle RNG, so I'll know to be more careful around them from now on!

[OddBob]

The amount of time you stay paralyzed is much higher than the amount of time between shots, so if it paralyzes you once, you're paralyzed until the shooting stops (because the Master is dead, out of ammo or not in range).

here's what I do if I don't have an omniweapon or tracking missiles:

If your shield can at least take a few hits, and you have a fairly fast firing weapon, as well as a blast or thermo weapon (can be the same weapon) charge it, firing into the stream of bolts with your fast weapon (it doesn't matter what damage type, you're only shooting down the bolts). This will take out some of them. When you get to the master, ignore the little ships that follow it around - they aren't as dangerous, and they're potential allies once you take out the master - get right up in his face and shoot until dead.

Attacking from a distance seems better, but when you're up close, the generally huge raider swarm can be used as a shield from the Cnydocist bolts, and you'll spend MUCH less time in the line of fire because you can hit way more often.

HOwever, if you have an omni Akan or a kiloton, what are you worrying about?

If your shield is about to go down, sustain and run.

[Fossaman]

There's considerably fewer dwarg now, it seems to me. But my favorite tactic is to find some sort of shelter (planet, asteroid, whatever) and hide behind it until the Dwarg leaves or runs out of ammo.

Later on, when I've got something that can take a few hits, I'll hunt them down. Dual Tev 9 does an okay job, just keep shooting and the particle reflect fails.

[Frits]

I think the enginethruster is the thing i need. I had used sustain but only after i got paralyzed, apparently i was in range and thus too late.. or i should have opted for avengeance.
I'll get a howitzer mounted if i can find any... and no, normally you do not carry a Akan turret in system Jotunheim.

[kaypy]

I'm with Fossaman here: take cover.

Nearly anything will do: if about 2/3 of the bolts get intercepted, then your shields oughta keep up.

Planets, Asteroids, Stations, Wrecks, Live ships...

Hmm. The rest of this post turned out to be borderline spoilerish, so I'm blacking it out...

Normally, I try to carry a titanium barricade with "DwArGShi3ld" spray painted on it... 8-) At least until I have a jump drive (although it does seem odd that you can teleport out when the rest of your systems are down). In the worst case, I have tossed out random cargo and hidden behind that!

Oh, and a sufficiently rapidfire weapon can do better than the ICX- blast something like a shiriken into the incoming stream and see how much you can get rid of.

Defense wise, there is a coating that stops EMP, and one that stops 'Ionization', but Ive never been willing to experiment enough to be really sure which one prevents Dwarg paralysis. Ion reflective shields are niiiiiice.

Oh, and you can get some nice emergency use items that dont take up too much space from the Penitents...

And finally, if all else fails, pray! No, seriously, if you use sustain, then blip your shields (yeah kind of cheating, but...) they will have regenerated a fair bit by the time the a sustain wears off, hopefully allowing you to survive until you can move again.

[Sponge]

If all else fails, grab a blue etherium field crystal and throw it on your shield. You'll need a tech 7 or higher, if I remember correctly. The only problem is that there are very few enemies that hit you with ion attacks, and so it will really only help with the Dwarg masters while a green etherium would reflect every particle attack.

[dvlenk6]

There are pretty many ion attacks, but not until later in the game.
Luminous, Ares, and Ventari (the disruptor).
Early on there is only the Dwarg and the Barbary Marauder.

Ion Reflect is one of the best shield enhancements, IMO. Maybe the best.

[Sponge]

Yeah, I know, but particle attacks seem to be more common. It's always a tough choice for me, because by the time I can get my hands on an advanced enough shield, I'm seeing a lot more particle attacks than ion, and those Sung can get annoying. I find the citidels don't have very strong armor, but it's a pain nonetheless having to attack and retreat when a particle crystal would just make fun of the buggers .

[FAD]

With the freighter, while entering the Dwarg, I'll normally be equiped (or try to be) with an ICX, thruster, a Nephren P25 or preferrably, the Invincible class shield, omni turbolaser w/collimator (and now enhanced +Fast if possible) and the NAMI with Stiletto's, as many as I can find.

Target that Master ASAP with Stiletto's blazing until he falls, then loot--hopefully I'll find a Cnydosist cannon in tact and the remaining shells...repeat. I'll do this until I have plenty of Cnydosist shells, then remove my NAMI and have the Cnydosist cannon installed...fight fire with fire and give that Master a taste of his own medicine!

BTW, That Cnydosist cannon works great all the way to Heretic...

[Frits]

Hahaha FAD. I love your replies and kaypy reminded me of an old trick. Barricades are feasible yes, but i read a lot that you just don't get that early in the game! I don't like 4 dwargmasters getting thrown at me that soon, can't we start with only one the first system they're possible?

[dvlenk6]

It shouldn't even be possible to encounter Dwarg in a level 3 system. They don't appear until level 4 (St. K's is the first level 4 system) in the xml.
I can't remember off-hand if I've ever encountered that early or not. That is too early for them, IMO; they are too powerful for that stage of the game. No wonder you are having so much trouble with them.

I've been overwhelmed several times by Dwarg w/ a boosted Invincible shield.
I seem to have bad RNG luck regarding the Dwarg. I encounter them in massive amounts almost every game. I even went as far as to check the 0.98 xml to see if they had been increased in frequency. They haven't.

On the bright side, I did manage to gather 6 Dwarg Behemoths at once as wingmen in one game.