Enemies you love to hate.

[ThePrivateer]

So, we've had the "Worst Enemy" thread around here, but I want a different one - enemies that, for reasons other than sheer power, you hate. So what enemies do you love to hate? Are they ones that take down your shield every time, ones that are just an annnoyance, or are they the ones that make you use every last missile just to break through their tough armour?

Mine, are :

Hammerhead - In the early systems, the outlaw mining stations are a great way to make cash. The Borers are easy to destroy, but the Hammerheads are so thickly shielded that a basic Laser weapon doesn't cut the mustard. Even worse is the fact that most early shields don't protect too well against kinetic, thus meaning the Hammerhead takes down my shields quite quickly.

Hornet Battlepods (anarchist fighters) : Those little, annoying, wasp-like ships drive me insane! They attack at once, with like a bajillion lasers and are so hard to hit without omni-weapons. So, I tend to use my precious Homing missiles to take them out, and thus have no missiles when I encounter my sworn enemies... ->

Urak Fighters (the littl-ish ones) : Damn you Uraks. Those bloody Blast weapons are too strong and wipe me out every single time!


So, what's every else's favourite love-to-hate enemies? BTW, list stations too, if you want.

[Drako Slyith]

I hate the zulus escorting the freighters; not because they are hard to kill, but because I am busy blowing up more freighters, and end up with a small army chasing me. They act more as pests then real enemies.

[asam3]

Ventari would come to number one for me. That Ion weapon of theirs that destroys weapons and removes enhancements is annoying. And when I say annoying, I mean it just makes me want to esc+3+1 everytime it happens.

Next would be the Earth Slaver. Nandao bolts hurts alot, and with those circle sung ships thingies, I'd be dead in no time. Also, they're pretty tough.

Xenophobe Worldship would be in the list. I was once flying towards a stargate when BLAM! I died without knowing what killed me. Then I saw it next game that it was a worldship that killed me... Just annoying especially when you're just flying by and they appear.

Huari defense ship is pretty annoying also, and strong.

Meh, it would make a really long list if I'd explain everyone thoroughly, so here's the count from 1-10

1. Ventari Ship(the one with the ion disruptor thingy)
2. Earth Slaver (nandao attack + hard to kill)
3. Huari Defense Ship(the long and square-ey one, annoying cause suddenly it destroys your armor)
4. Sung Circle-shaped ship. (peaceful constraint and shields down)
5. Sung Defense Walls (there's freaking 4 of them, kind of hard to kill with a short range weapon)
6. Sung Defense Satellite(cause they destroy slave cargo)
7. Ranx gunship(the small annoying ones)
8. Ranx Destroyer(the big one that shoots out those cannonball thingies)
9. Ares Phobos Ship(mass ares lightning cannon attack)
10. Xenophobe Worldship(it suddenly appears out of nowhere and kills everything in sight)

[ThePrivateer]

5. Sung Defense Walls (there's freaking 4 of them, kind of hard to kill with a short range weapon)

Ahh yes, the invicible walls of Sung. How I hate them. Whilst you waste shots trying to take down a wall, the Sung station is destroying you bit by bit with it's powerful weapon.

I always hope for a moon nearby that I can shelter on while my shields recharge. Then I stick the nose of my ship out and fire madly and then retreat. Takes a while, but it works.

[Curudan]

1. Ventari. The reasons for this choice barely need explaining. Not only did their weapons strip enhancements and permanently damage weapons and devices- which is in and of itself, completely unforgivable-, but they do a tremendous amount of damage to me. Perhaps the greatest testament to my aversion to them is their singular survival. I mercilessly genocide every red dot in the game except for the Ventari. Other enemies are irritating and dangerous, but these guys are singularly life threatening.

2. Huari. It's good that I always try to get on their good side before the end, because these ones stand as a particularly annoying enemy to fight. Two words: Health Potions. When I first encounter these guys, I could spend half an hour trying to get through their shields, only to see it raise to maximum time after time. And they use blast weapons. I hate blast weapons.

3. Earth Slavers. I've lost count of the times I've had to flee like a little girl in an EI100 because my shields were instantly dropped from full health to zilch. Their weapons are either weak enough or slow enough to completely ignore, so my hatred for these guys comes completely from the tedium involved in waiting for my shields to recharge. I never get close enough to the citadels for them to get me with shields down, so it's just these guys and the Dragon Slaver. The only way I take these guys on now, is a full frontal blitz of everything I have, hoping to destroy them before they can drop my shields.

I could list the Ranx dreadnought here, but I don't really hate it as such. Truthfully, I respect it greatly. Fighting a dreadnought stands as one of the most thrilling fights in the game, and it isn't unduly annoying or instantly deadly.

Also, the enemies listed above stand as for when I first meet them; of course I could double back before the end, and massacre all the Ventari with little trouble, but I don't really see the point in that. I haven't played 1.04 yet. Some of these choices might need revising.


For those having trouble with the Sung slave camp, citadel, or fortress, I have one word:

Howitzers

The Sung fortress and citadels' advantages can be completely negated with a howitzer, and the slave camp is best engaged with an all out kamikaze attack.

Approach the camp as quickly as possible, and come to a complete halt directly on top of it. Then, fire your howitzer and your most powerful missiles at it until it is destroyed. It should be down for the count in seconds. Once the camp is down, press your friendly targeting key to cycle to a slave capsule and dock to rescue all the slaves. Finally, deal with the turrets and defenders at your leisure; completely ignore them until you've rescued the slaves. This strategy has never failed me, and I've easily used it a hundred times.

[ThePrivateer]

3. Earth Slavers. I've lost count of the times I've had to flee like a little girl in an EI100 because my shields were instantly dropped from full health to zilch.

LOL

I remember the first time I ever encountered them - I think I died just about instantly. Nasty little guys - it helps if you can use Domina to fight them though - even the stock-standard Protect power can help you get out of their range until the Shield-drop wears off.

[Curudan]

I remember the first time I ever encountered them - I think I died just about instantly. Nasty little guys - it helps if you can use Domina to fight them though - even the stock-standard Protect power can help you get out of their range until the Shield-drop wears off.

Well, with the armor buffs since 1.0, you technically don't need to start panicking once your shields drop. Good armor can last you minutes after that point.

I still run away and wait for them to recharge, though. I simply don't like fighting with my shields down, even without the red flash.

[ThePrivateer]

I remember the first time I ever encountered them - I think I died just about instantly. Nasty little guys - it helps if you can use Domina to fight them though - even the stock-standard Protect power can help you get out of their range until the Shield-drop wears off.

Well, with the armor buffs since 1.0, you technically don't need to start panicking once your shields drop. Good armor can last you minutes after that point.

I still run away and wait for them to recharge, though. I simply don't like fighting with my shields down, even without the red flash.

I have died sooo many times since the red flash went away. I don't check the HUD in a big firefight and end up getting destroyed too easily. I wish it was an option you could turn on or off.

[IceMephit]

1. Ventuari - for reasons that have already been discussed above

2. Ferian warriors - simply because the EI500 can not outrun them and those plasma weapons really hurt....... a lot if you are not prepared (which, I usually ain't)

3. Ares - They can be tough to take down (even the small ones) and their weapons can be really brutal if you are not ready for them

4. Pteravores - I have only run into them once, back in 1.0RC1, much to my dismay, they took me out quickly (only because I have no idea yet how to deal with them)

5. Phobos - only the REALLY BIG ONE ...... dreadnought(?)

The xenophobe ships don't usually give me a problem. If I have a particle beam weapon, it does fairly well, if you have the shields/armor or +Particle(?) for your shields helps too

For those having trouble with the Sung slave camp, citadel, or fortress, I have one word:

Howitzers

The Sung fortress and citadels' advantages can be completely negated with a howitzer, and the slave camp is best engaged with an all out kamikaze attack.

Approach the camp as quickly as possible, and come to a complete halt directly on top of it. Then, fire your howitzer and your most powerful missiles at it until it is destroyed. It should be down for the count in seconds. Once the camp is down, press your friendly targeting key to cycle to a slave capsule and dock to rescue all the slaves. Finally, deal with the turrets and defenders at your leisure; completely ignore them until you've rescued the slaves. This strategy has never failed me, and I've easily used it a hundred times.

Howitzers: the anti-Sung device

I usually circle the Sung slave camps and quickly destroy the turrets (?) then deal with camp itself, just like Curudan, I sit on top of it and unleash my payload upon it. This tactic has only failed me if I let wingmen/autons join in the fray as they tend to destroy slave quarters with complete carelessness.

The small round sung ships that cyber attack, I use the howitzer on them too. It took some time practicing, but they move slow enough and their flight pattern is quite predictable.

6. Sung Earth slavers and the Dragon - the slavers can take a massive beating before crumbling, and the Nanado bolts are quite .... harmful. The Dragon - all I can say is, try the Fusionfire Howitzer and some fancy flying and pray.

The Huari ships I always avoid, they're superconducting shields are pain in the *ss and I like to befriend them......for some reason

Every other enemy that I have come across ( I haven't fought the ICS yet, and only once against the Phobos dreadnaught, which ended badly for me) has either a predictable patter, or you just need the right equipment.

[Ttech]

Personally I think my favorite enemy is the Xenophobes and the Tin Cans that always blow up everything in sight. Granted the Sung are quite persistent and annoying as well, but on those lines the dwarg = I hate their behemoths which never mange to not explode or survive when you gain their support.

[ThePrivateer]

I should also add that I really hate the Huari. I have no idea about the Huari-storyline where the player goes off and helps them or something, so I just end up getting blown to simithereens by ONE shot from those massive ships they have.

[Prophet]

For me, it's the Dwarg Masters. Pelting me from long range with their homing ion blasts... get hit as your shield drop while fighting a swarm of the drones and you're toast. I always seek them out first, which is sometimes very difficult in the freighter.

[Ttech]

For me, it's the Dwarg Masters. Pelting me from long range with their homing ion blasts... get hit as your shield drop while fighting a swarm of the drones and you're toast. I always seek them out first, which is sometimes very difficult in the freighter.

Indeed those are pretty terrible, they were so bad when I first started playing I had to get help making a mod that shrunk the distance of the range to less then half. Which allowed me to win the game, kinda ironic because the later stuff is rather difficult.

[PM]

Nomad Salvagers - They may show as "friendly", but when they steal loot, they are enemies in every other way. I am a packrat and compulsive looter, and I like to stash items at various station wrecks. The presence of Salvagers means I need to find another system without them to store loot, just to be safe. (Just because you think you killed them all does not mean you have. There could be one you missed lurking beyond the system at the moment.) At least there are no more of these pirates after the first half of the game.

[Aury]

Barbaries & Dwarg masters. Especially dwarg masters.

I paid good money for this carbide carapace, and it isn't ion effect immune! >.<
EMP stacks too, making it extra annoying. Especially since tons of those Dwarg projectiles tend to hit you all at once.

Ah yes, and salvagers.