How do I Destroy a Ares Phobos Class Destroyer?

[Red]

As the title suggests I have run into one and well I die, fast. Yet I suspect that there is great stuff aboard and would like to get my hands on it as I need Rin fast to get a lovely omnidirectional Thermo cannon... anyway! Some important facts -

I am playing offline (don't have the spare data)

At the moment I am in a Wolven Class ship, with 1x Thermo Cannon (enhanced for speed)(one direction only ) 1x Akan 30 cannon (omnidirectional) (enhanced for speed), 1x Hanzo blaster (enhanced).

I have heavy Omsk armor boosted with Othosteel paste to 600 hit points I also have a boosted Mammoth 25MW deflector to 600 hit points.

i have tried using a scramble cube thingy to disable it but all that seemed to happen is that it got pissed off...

Anyway, if someone could give us a hand and point me in the right direction for changes or something to help me beat the Phobos foe I would be most thankful!

[JohnBWatson]

There are three legitimate ways(that I know of), and then an exploit.

For the legit ways, they are as follows:

1. Get a high DPS weapon with WMD(you've already got that - thermo cannon +fast), and get close enough to hit the Phobos. Keep moving and rapidly changing direction to prevent the two turrets from hitting you hard enough to take down your shields, and, after the Phobos fires its main gun(and misses - keep changing your direction) turn around for a short while and unload into the gap between its front "pincers". This is easier with an omni weapon, as you can stay at medium range and continuously dodge while bombarding it, but only the omni thermo cannon and rare, expensive tracking missiles are both omnidirectional and high damage enough to kill a dreadnought.

2. Get a howitzer, and fight the Phobos at longer range. This will take a while, but the turrets will be less of a problem.

3. Use a gem of Contrition, and destroy the Phobos while it's frozen in time. It can't shoot back, and you'll be able to kill it with no risk or difficulty, but you'll have used up a semi - rare, very powerful item.

The exploit involves kiting it from outside the range where the AI is allowed to shoot.

---

Of course, you can also make the fight trivial by using Domina powers. One round of strengthen + defend should be enough to kill a Phobos without taking any damage at all. The powers are somewhat unbalanced right now, so I'm not sure whether that counts as an exploit or a legitimate method.

[Red]

There are three legitimate ways(that I know of), and then an exploit.

For the legit ways, they are as follows:

1. Get a high DPS weapon with WMD(you've already got that - thermo cannon +fast), and get close enough to hit the Phobos. Keep moving and rapidly changing direction to prevent the two turrets from hitting you hard enough to take down your shields, and, after the Phobos fires its main gun(and misses - keep changing your direction) turn around for a short while and unload into the gap between its front "pincers". This is easier with an omni weapon, as you can stay at medium range and continuously dodge while bombarding it, but only the omni thermo cannon and rare, expensive tracking missiles are both omnidirectional and high damage enough to kill a dreadnought.

2. Get a howitzer, and fight the Phobos at longer range. This will take a while, but the turrets will be less of a problem.

3. Use a gem of Contrition, and destroy the Phobos while it's frozen in time. It can't shoot back, and you'll be able to kill it with no risk or difficulty, but you'll have used up a semi - rare, very powerful item.

The exploit involves kiting it from outside the range where the AI is allowed to shoot.

---

Of course, you can also make the fight trivial by using Domina powers. One round of strengthen + defend should be enough to kill a Phobos without taking any damage at all. The powers are somewhat unbalanced right now, so I'm not sure whether that counts as an exploit or a legitimate method.

Thank you! I actually have a Gem of Contrition on me at the moment, but didn't know what it did other than be a really good offering to Domina! So I will give that a try and see how I do!

[JohnBWatson]

Thank you! I actually have a Gem of Contrition on me at the moment, but didn't know what it did other than be a really good offering to Domina! So I will give that a try and see how I do!

Best of luck. Remember to focus fire on a particular section of the armor, and to avoid destroying the front if you want a better chance at getting the main gun as a drop.

[NMS]

Fighting a Phobos at close range with a forward-firing weapon is possible, but difficult. With a maneuverable ship like the Wolfen, it's possible to dodge its main gun shots. With a bit of experience, it's also possible to anticipate when its turrets are about to be ready and back away. With a bit more distance, you can dodge almost all of the turret shots by staying in one place until they're about to reach you, moving out of the way of the shots that have already been fired, and repeating. But this is still dangerous unless you have very good defenses, such as the Taikon-200 shield and heavy ithalium armor, preferably with enhanced hp. Domina powers can also be a big help.

Scramble cubes have a chance to work even on high-level enemies like the Phobos, but it's not very good. You might have to use several of them.

The easiest way is to stay at long range and use tracking thermo missiles, like the Lucifer for the NAMI, Gotha 400 for the Rasiermesser, or Medusa for the NAMI heavy.

[Red]

Fighting a Phobos at close range with a forward-firing weapon is possible, but difficult. With a maneuverable ship like the Wolfen, it's possible to dodge its main gun shots. With a bit of experience, it's also possible to anticipate when its turrets are about to be ready and back away. With a bit more distance, you can dodge almost all of the turret shots by staying in one place until they're about to reach you, moving out of the way of the shots that have already been fired, and repeating. But this is still dangerous unless you have very good defenses, such as the Taikon-200 shield and heavy ithalium armor, preferably with enhanced hp. Domina powers can also be a big help.

Scramble cubes have a chance to work even on high-level enemies like the Phobos, but it's not very good. You might have to use several of them.

The easiest way is to stay at long range and use tracking thermo missiles, like the Lucifer for the NAMI, Gotha 400 for the Rasiermesser, or Medusa for the NAMI heavy.

So the best bet is to get something like the omnidirectional Thermo cannon first to give me better aim while dodging then just shoot it like a made person? Sounds like a plan!

How much does a Taikon-200 shield normally cost? Can I order on from a Trading Post?

[JohnBWatson]

Taikon 200 isn't essential, and definitely isn't rare enough to waste a trading post on. Any late game shield is solid enough to protect you as long as you stay moving, change direction constantly, and avoid taking a direct hit from the Phobos's main gun.

If you have enough credits(and, if you start killing Phoboses like a madman, you definitely will - they drop enough pteracnium fuel rods and valuable equipment that killing them is a good way to make a profit), you should use trading posts to buy enhancers for your favorite endgame weapon. Tritium boosters are great if you like howitzers or thermo cannons.

[Red]

Taikon 200 isn't essential, and definitely isn't rare enough to waste a trading post on. Any late game shield is solid enough to protect you as long as you stay moving, change direction constantly, and avoid taking a direct hit from the Phobos's main gun.

If you have enough credits(and, if you start killing Phoboses like a madman, you definitely will - they drop enough pteracnium fuel rods and valuable equipment that killing them is a good way to make a profit), you should use trading posts to buy enhancers for your favorite endgame weapon. Tritium boosters are great if you like howitzers or thermo cannons.

Well I have spent a good deal of effort and time getting the Rin needed to buy that omnidirectional Thermo Cannon, so the next step would be to see if the use of the Gem of Contrition works with the new Thermo which I have enhanced now as well so that it is a little faster and more powerful.

[PM]

Taikon-200 is military and level 10, you cannot order it from Trading Post. (If it were possible, I might, it is the best shield in the game.)

Domina powers are overpowered (and maybe unfair to the powerless NPCs), but it is certainly not cheating, if you do not care about conducts. That said, Phobos cannot be instakilled by Shatter.

[Red]

Taikon-200 is military and level 10, you cannot order it from Trading Post. (If it were possible, I might, it is the best shield in the game.)

Domina powers are overpowered (and maybe unfair to the powerless NPCs), but it is certainly not cheating, if you do not care about conducts. That said, Phobos cannot be instakilled by Shatter.

Well I have done it! I haven't used Domina as I wanted to save the powers for later in the game but I still did it! Took five tries and all of my Thermo cannon shells but I did it! Ha!

[JohnBWatson]

Domina powers aren't a 1 - shot thing. They recharge over time, which is what makes them so OP.

That said, limiting Domina powers in this way would be a very effective way to balance them. A lot of them are good enough that they'd be more than worth the effort required to unlock them even if they could only be used once per game.

[Ferdinand]

Well I have done it! I haven't used Domina as I wanted to save the powers for later in the game but I still did it! Took five tries and all of my Thermo cannon shells but I did it! Ha!

You really should equip a launcher with decent missiles (as mentioned before) so you can fire missiles and the thermocannon simultaneously and not run out of ammo. If you use the Rasiermesser launcher (preferably Domina enhanced) with the tracking Gotha missiles together with the enhanced omni thermocannon, the Phobos can be dead in about 10-20 well placed shots from both of them together). You must be careful then to not destroy it's wreck by firing to many shots at it.....

[Red]

Domina powers aren't a 1 - shot thing. They recharge over time, which is what makes them so OP.

That said, limiting Domina powers in this way would be a very effective way to balance them. A lot of them are good enough that they'd be more than worth the effort required to unlock them even if they could only be used once per game.

Oh I dunno! I kinda like having the comfort of knowing that I can, in fact, blast my enemies to smithereens with a holy hand grenade.

[Red]

Well I have done it! I haven't used Domina as I wanted to save the powers for later in the game but I still did it! Took five tries and all of my Thermo cannon shells but I did it! Ha!

You really should equip a launcher with decent missiles (as mentioned before) so you can fire missiles and the thermocannon simultaneously and not run out of ammo. If you use the Rasiermesser launcher (preferably Domina enhanced) with the tracking Gotha missiles together with the enhanced omni thermocannon, the Phobos can be dead in about 10-20 well placed shots from both of them together). You must be careful then to not destroy it's wreck by firing to many shots at it.....

Oh I have never had much luck with missiles. I tend to die more for some reason... wish I knew why! lol but will see about that as I am having trouble with a fleet of other Big A'ssed Ares ships at Point Juno. Maybe it is worth having for a short while. The other thing is that I am tight on storage space so don't really have room for more ammo. :/

[PM]

The only Domina powers I really consider overpowered are Ingenuity and Desperate Escape, and the latter only in a game that honors permadeath. Ingenuity is overpowered as long as you have a free or cheap source of fuel (e.g., CSCs at high rank, Pilgrim's Aid at Sisters.) to enable camping and power spamming until all of your equipment is enhanced. The other powers can be powerful, but not game-changing enough. Well, Shatter can be game changing if it frags friendlies and gets you blacklisted or worse.