Intro
This guild will explain how you can use the speed and firepower advantage of Mamba Raider to take out sectors loaded with fighters, while still offsetting for the limited shielding. The guide utilizes the hit-and-run technique to take out one target at a time and weed out threats by priority. We will only use lasers and no missles. IMO, using missles ais cheating and true pilots only use standard weapons
In the guide I will use concrete control examples, (Like "turn left"). You can substitute them for something to suit your fighting style.
Setup
- VERY IMPORTANT: Use the "k" key to switch firing modes. Note that there are THREE for them. One is without the extra reticle, second is the one where you just have the reticle, and the third is the LOCKING reticle. You need to be in this last one. You will notice that the reticle will blink red-blue when your target is close. It took me forever to realize that this mode existed, and helps A LOT in fights.
- Set gravidar mode (SHIFT-M) to the smallest 1 mile radius.
- You need to have easy access to all Strafe keys and Roll Right.
- Turret set to missle defense.
Loadout
- My suggested loadout is 4x AHEPT, 4xPAC, Mass driver on the turret, 10 mass driver ammo and at least a few. We use say "1" for full-barrage (all
, for M3s and "2" for small ships (4x BPAC).Fighting: Planning
As I already mentioned, we try to use hit-and-run technique to weed out the threats one by one. The "elimination" priority should be this way:
- Xenon Sector:
N's first, M's second, L's and lastly lone corvettes. You will have to travel straight the sector in seta for some time to allow the smaller fighters to separate out first. You will take them out first and then take the M3 capital ship escorts last.
- Pirate Sectors/wings.
Any M3 loaded out with APSG and/or ID is the first priority, then any other, and leave Novas for the end.
Fighting: Approach
We need to take extreme caution when approaching a wing for the first time. There will be a lot of shots coming our way and we need to have full shields for the attack.
Even if the wing is not aggressive at first, we should take caution as they could get aggressive in the meanwhile.
First pick your target according the priority list and have it selected.
The idea is to approach them at full speed, while strafing left and pointing our nose towards the pack so that we can watch the oncoming barrage. At first all the shots will fly in one plane and will be closing in on us. About 500m from the target you will see that those shots will be pretty close and some of them might hit you. That's when you make a 90 degree roll while still keeping the nose pointed at them and strafing in the same direction. Pretty soon we should be on their flank and the time will be to make a turn for intercept and approach them from behind.
To further explain the approach.. The more your nose points towards the left of the enemy wing, the wider approach you will take. This is exactly what we should do when we approach a pirate wing with a PSG and/or ID loadout. We point the nose a bit further, even maybe make a straight turn to the left, and run in that direction for a couple of seconds to come around the PSG cone. Keep in mind that PSG has about 1km range and that if you come in fast, the cone should not turn towards you. If you do this right, you should have at most 20% of your shields taken out by the time you approach the rear of your target.
If you have done this right, now you should be behind your target and you should have not fired any shots. Try to come behind but not fully. We want the target's side or better bottom (if it has turrets) and rear to be exposed for the next step. I will explain why...
Fighting: Take the kill
Now all of the lasers (4xAHEPT and 4xBPAC) should be on. You should be approaching your target from the rear and slightly from the side or from below. The reason for this is that from behind most targets have a small aspect and the shots have a harder time lining in on them. At the same time, being mostly behind means that they need more time to turn towards you and unload. If you need to close in, you should be adjusting your speed to be slightly faster than the target's and your nose should be pointed to slightly lag behind the directional reticle (not directly at the ship). You want to get the "lock" and see the flashing reticle. When the reticle locks, your guns are pointed to intercept the target's course and will most likely hit unless it unlocks at the last moment, or if the target makes a sharp turn. If you are further than 300m approach, but don't get too close as it is hard to maintain the lock. Xenon Ls are pretty maneuverable so with them you might want to take shorter bursts.
Now we want to unload our laser energy as fast as possible but we want as few as possible of those shots to miss. If the reticle stops flashing (you lost the lock) - stop. Strafe around slightly and lower the speed to unload the rest of your energy. You have maybe about 5 seconds before the other ships get their heads together in the wing turn towards you to take you out. If you get a few missles fired at you, or your shields are at 50%, or your (about) 5 seconds are up and you think you can't finish the kill before you get a swarm of green lights on you, go for the pull-out (next section).
There is a special case in this scenario. It is the dreaded nova's rear turret. If your target is the nova, you should have cleaned out all other types of ships by now and you should have a clean go at it. You use the same approach but try to get below it where its turret can hurt you the least. Do not get too close or you will likely fail to pull out without hull damage. Try to get a lock on it and use brief approach-unload-pullouts and try keep your shields at a safe level. Once you get this tactics right, nova will be a joke.
Another special cases are corvettes. Again, they should be alone by now and what you should be an easy pick if try to do is to strafe around them and keep away from their turret fire and the main guns.
Fighting: Pullout
Now either you ran out of laser energy, your shields are at 50% or a missle is homing on you. Turn away from the pack and immediately start your similar strafe-left-turn-right technique, but this time away from the pack. It is very important that you do not too sharp turns and lose the ship's momentum. You should be swithing your direction slightly maybe every 1 second while you are close to the enemies, and you will do that by making another 90 degree bank, switch to a different strafe (but also turn opposite to the strafing direction so that you are not making a full stop and become an easy target). If you have missle on your tail, try to keep it behind and slightly above you (learn the gravidar) so that the turret can take it out. Once you leave the firing range, IF any fast fighters are on you, now is the time to take them out with the 4xBPACs. Otherwise keep the closest target targeted, fly slightly faster than it and wait until your shields are fully regenerated and your lasers almost regenerated to full.
So once you are ready for another run-in, repeat the approach step.
If you are making a second run at a damaged target, try to time the attack to happen at the exact moment when your lasers are almost fully charged and your shields are 100%. We don't want the target's sheiald to regenerate while we chill in space.
Appendix 1: Weak threats
The weak threats are small-fighter wings and Khaak clusters.
Khaak clusters are rather easy. You need to fully focus fire on the M3 in it at first and weed out the scout fighters with 4xBHEPT. The only ting you gotta remember here is that they are fast and don't like to stay steady unless you are moving slow or are fully stopped. Same holds for pirate M5s. Once you are only left with a few M5s, jsut slow down and let them come at you full head-on. That's when you just wait for the lock and unload a barrege of BHEPTs.
The pirate M4-M5 wings are usually easy but you should take caution not to come close to M4s, as they can fire sme deadly missles from close at nasty angles so that your turret can't get them. If you keep a decent distance, you should be safe.
I hope you all enjoy this guide and start to love even more this fine masterpiece of Split technology
The Mamba Raider is my own favorite and I believe that some of you have similar guides for your own. If you wish to contribute, I could add your stuff to this thread. A few fighting styles I could think of are the Nova (try point te turret at the target) and the pirate Falcon (Vanguard) keep distance and grind away with the PSGs.
