Friday, December 30, 2016

The Case for Gutting 109's

When and Why it's O.K. and How to Do It.


By: George Argyropoulos
a/k/a Dragon_Bane   



Wait... you're condoning what now???

Let me start by clarifying this - I have no problem with players doing this IF they do not have a fleet that can do the complete 109. I have been guilty of sinking a fleet or two that I caught doing this- if it was a full FM fleet capable of taking the 109. I have even seen people doing this with a copy of my fm fleet. They got visits after their fleet went home. If you are gutting the 109's because you want to get it done without damage or because you don't feel like waiting, or because you think you are screwing Kixeye... I have no sympathy for your fleet getting sniped. None. We have 3 days to complete the FM for a reason. Build more tanks or roll some Bullseye Brigade crews if you feel the need to do it all in one sitting. Gutting or sniping out the 109 islands can be viewed as lazy or inconsiderate and can engender retaliatory actions, including your fleets getting sunk and your base getting smashed (but generally only if you are using a higher end fleet to gut the 109's).

 I will say this also- most bigger players that I know, hold to the above as well. Struggling players are not held to the same level of expectation as bigger players are, and rightfully so. Don't be afraid to do this, if it is the best you can do. If a player has an issue with you doing it, move along and leave 'their' 109 for them. Those of us that one shot them still need to kill off a gutted one to get to 350 million.

The issue as I see it is this: Players need to feel a sense of relevancy in the game, and that comes in the context of other players. Ideally, I feel as though new players need to be able to get into the FM very quickly and even get up to T4 within the first month of play. It was different for us because our contextual reference was different- we were ALL struggling towards the same goal. This is an aspect of the game that really needs to be looked at as a quick feeling of relevance will have the benefit of higher retention rates of new players... and probably would start a nice slow trickle of new players into the game.

Errr.... ok, You're daft, but we'll humor you...

So, that said, for those players whose fleets can't make it through the 109 but need to get to Tier 4 or Tier 5, gut away. Please. The FM is so much of a priority for people to get caught up and become relevant in the game that I will encourage this in smaller players. Srsly. I even wrote about how much of a priority it is in this article. That said... let's look at a quick video example first and then visit the parts...

I will include a second Tank build as well, however, 9Nines was kind enough to record this hit for me to illustrate the general method I would use, and I am going to use the proven build here to illustrate for ease and reference.




You can find the full fleet build here.

My combo of choice (for this or a full out FM fleet) is a CM Tank spotter (Counter-Measure Tank) and remote mortar 'chuckers'. This allows you to mitigate overall damage by limiting damage to your Tank (with good driving) leaving your Chuckers damage free.

This also allows for more than one tank to be built in order to speed up point accumulation. You can also stack up your tanks at the end of play and repair them all at once overnight or while you are at work. Tanks can run the gamut from Tideseekers to Novastorms. Chuckers are generally Novastorms, Berserker or Citadels.



As you can see this build holds to the same theories all popular CM FM Tank builds hold to- a lot of Explosive and Penetrative damage resistance. This same idea can be molded to any tank you want. The options are there, particularly if you choose to boost any of your stats through a Flagship or Crews.

To see how the above build stacks up, this is my Tideseeker CM Tank I use for my FM every week.



As you can see the same fundamentals are in this build as well. No matter what you build, these resistances are key to your CM FM Tank build. As you can see, the Tideseeker has a significantly higher amount of armor allowing more targets to be hit. This particular build will take me through the entire FM. With a Bullseye Brigade Crew, I can do the FM to T5 twice inside of 40 min and for less than 1.5 hours damage.

Fine... so we get a Tank, then what?

Mortar Chuckers. In this case, we are going with the Novastorms listed above. If you have better ones, use those. Personally, I have grown to like the Citadels a lot. Particularly with the Harlock lead. The idea behind them is simple. Fast, damaging mortars to do as much widespread damage in as little time as possible. Personally I would tweak this build, but as I said, this is what is in the vid; it works and is tested so it is a fantastic jumping off point for people that need it.



This has what we want. Judges for the damage and the MIRV ability. Specials for damage and projectile speed. Some speed to keep up with the Tank. Simple combination. Is there room for improvement? Sure, but... do you really need to at this point?

Weirdo.

I know this is not going to be a popular position to take. I'm not sure why people get soooo hot and bothered over this subject. I can see both sides of the argument, however, I really do believe that this will actually help the community by helping the individual player feel a sense of relevance in the game sooner as well as gain a feeling of accomplishment. That the FM has become so important in progressing in this game makes it even more important for players to achieve quickly in this area. To that end I see no argument that can stand against this for certain players. And let's be honest- really and truly, if the FM is not an issue for you, you can't really complain about gutted 109's- the FM is easy for us that have the ability to do these in that way.



A side note: I would like to thank all of you for the help and support for this blog. In under 6 weeks we have hit over 50,000 views- far more than I had ever anticipated in that short a time span. THANK YOU!!







15 comments:

  1. Majority of players I see doing this are doing it because they do not want to take damage. I take damage cleaning up their mess and it pisses me off. I say if you can't finish one then work with a partner. Find someone who can only do half and divide the 109 between you so that you are taking responsibility. You MUST do your best to get the prizes from the FM because the prizes can mean the difference between flourishing in the game or failing in the game. But I do not care what level you are in the game, if you have the fleet to finish a 109 don't be a jerk and gut the 109's without expecting to lose many fleets. So once again I want to encourage all players who choose not to finish a 109 to get a partner and get it completed together. Tell your partner when you will be repaired and give it a very good effort to log back in at that time so the two of you can hit another 109. Now I feel better for having said it. I don't have my glasses on so forgive me if I wrote a lot of gibberish. lol :) HOOK-v3 (KODE)

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    1. Apollos work quite well for cleaning up the ships

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  2. george i understand what yah saying but for me its a pain the gutted 109s since i dont want to coin so much i nee to clear a gutted first cost money then i need to do 8 more to complete 2x the mission for that i want to coin it but for somebody else not really costing me money for nothing, basicly my opinion if you cant beat a 109 dont do it say the same in raids cant beat a elite dot do it the mission is builded up to yah level skills so better try a 102 or even less you can get to tier 4with a 102 as well no problems

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  3. There's alot of High Level Lazy players out there, who complete their FM with one fleet just gutting 109's. I think it's a pain in the Arse, having to finish off gutted ones before you can get stuck in and complete your own Fm. I think the best way to stop it would be for Kix to only pay out points once the 109 has been completed. Just my opinion !

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    1. So then someone who hits a 109 and their fleet dies just before it's finished won't get any points? I don't think that's quite fair.

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    2. All kix need to do to sort this is, put the bulk of the points in the parts people are leaving. i.e the centre.

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  4. im a lvl 77....the way i see it a gutted 109 is ez frags. lol i can finish fm in 30 minutes and i kill the whole 109. when i see gutted 109's i kill them for the frags. bunch of whinny old men playing this game. quit being cry babies.

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  5. imo it takes more time to sink players fleets and hit thier bases than it does to finish a half hit 109, it's esay frags. higher players should quit whinnying. just kill the 109 and wait 5 secs a fresh one will appear. ugh people get pissy for no reason

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  6. Gutting a 109 in 4 mins for 60.000 urianium and a two day ship token is worth getting your base hit for ,,better than struggling to reach tier 3 ..go for it guys

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  7. Although it's mildly irritating to find nothing but gutted 109s about when I want to do my FM, I must agree with George on this one. And I remind the people who say the "little guys" should stick to 102s, the little guys often don't have a fleet capable of hitting a 102. It pretty much requires a fleet of Punishers to kill one as the arc missiles make it very problematic to hit one with a mortar fleet, even with a pinch.

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    1. It does not require a fleet of puns you only need 1 properly built to do the 102 with little to no damage, as this was why kix came up with the 109's to begin with

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  8. Best I have is a fleet of R4 Novas. I can do a whole 109 and then I repair for 13 to 16 hours. then do another. There are times all I can find is damaged 109s , so I will clean them up. I have still been able to get tier 5 cleaning them up. and there have been times that I have got my FM done faster by cleaning up 109s. I had tier 5 cleared before last raid and will have it cleared again next week. Most weeks I get tier 5 twice with the Nova fleet, with no coin. I appreciate and agree with this post alot. Tolerance is definitely needed for the ones trying to catch up, as i know alot of us took months getting a fleet up to do 107s then Kix takes them away and back to square 1. I was one of those. GRIMLOCK level 70

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  9. whiners will whine, it is a pirate game, pirates frack each other, so gut on!!!!!

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  10. I see this every week. My issue is i am Aussie and not many peeps are on when i am. I have to finish 2 unfinished ones so new ones spawn. YES it pisses me off. Can it be helped? I don't think so.
    There are the lower levels that struggle ( very few do this as they don't even think that far ahead) and the higher levels that don't want to take damage. I never see them in them and being gutted so i don't complain, just clear them up. It's all i can do.

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  11. Some of my Alliance don't like this either. I'm in two minds about it, personally I don't gut and have just recently got a fleet that can do a 109 in one sitting so it doesn't effect me that much. However, finding an untouched 109 is still frustrating but I often made the case that finishing off pink ones still gets you points and will make a new one respawn so is it that much of a big deal. I take the point that leaving the more difficult and damage inflicting stuff behind for others to clear is a bit of a dick move. I agree with the consensus here. Other than talking to your sector and maybe trying to establish some good will etiquette then there's not a great deal that can be done to combat it.

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