Is there a trick to completing pirate swarm in 3.11? It seems much harder.

[zotzotzot]

It seems much harder than I remember it being. With two people we can pretty much only get to wave 5 or 6. I can't imagine defeating a HH. We're using stock Cutty Black and F7C.

I am also having problems with ship selector because it's not letting me customize any ships at all (or even rent either ships or components) so we're doing it with stock ships. No gimbals on the F7C for example.

Appreciate any help. Really interested in buying the Pirate Gladius, but getting frustrated.

 

[vahadar]

The AC ship customization is quite often bugged and does not work (for me too). As for the Pirate Swarm, i havent tried in 3.11, i cant tell for that. Is it because of missiles you are dying often after wave 5?

 

[zotzotzot]

Is it because of missiles you are dying often after wave 5?

It's because, among other things, the AI ships apparently have a 100% success rate with missile counter measures. So I'm basically left having to dog fight every single one of them. By wave 5 or 6 we are overwhelmed... at least using the two ships i mentioned.

 

[Ayeteeone]

The Arena Commander modes have not had any real attention for a bit. Devs have commented that they know an update is needed, but that it's not worth throwing bandaid code at it.

As far as harder, should not be by any action on their part.. just inaction as things have broke and not been given attention.

A stock Cutty is.. squishy. At the very least upgrade the shield to the best available.

Gimbals or fixed are your preference; I've done it both ways, with energy and ballistic. Favorite run was solo in a box-stock Freelancer.

The real trick is not equipment based. Learn to stay out of the middle of the furball; there aren't any ships that do well when 5 or 6 others are shooting them. Use the rocks, ride the edges of the field.. separate the enemy as much as possible before engaging.

Final thought.. against lots of guns, 'agility tanking' is your best hope. This is especially true in PvP. The Hornet can do ok here.. the Cutty will require a more aggressive hand on the stick/M+K to make it work. Set up a boost button and see how your ship responds when you use it.

Edit: If you are not rocking ballistics on your ships, then it's important to keep the NPC Hurricanes alive to kill the Hammerhead. This can actually be the hardest part.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

nope, it is indeed broken AF.

Vanddul swarm was alright, did it in a stock gladius in solo. I did the same what @Ayeteeone said, jousting/kiteing the ships away, using speeeed and poooweeer! AKA Boost. Was on my last life, but managed to make it on first try.

Tried Pirate Swarm (in gladius and a the big vandul fighter whatever its called), and found the following differences:

Vandys are pretty squishy at the moment, they don't have 99.5% accuracy under all circumstances, and their missiles can be dodged. Also they don't match every single move you make perfectly regardless of ship type and speed, with every single fight ending in seizure inducing flashing of shields while in an unbreakable circle of death. Oh, and you can actually get a missile lock on them sometimes.
So totally the opposite of the Pirate ships.

It is fair and balanced, in the regard that you should get trashed in a 1vs10 scenario really. I got killed on wave 3 and 4, by auroras and their missiles. 7 out of 8 deaths I was splashed with a missile (2 is enough for a full kill), and one time by 2 short bursts from a badger repeater (probably a shield hole in the vandy ship?). So yeah, it is basically unplayable in solo.

TLDR.: I wouldn't bother really, maybe with a larger group of ppl in some heavy hitters?
Is the ship you want giftable? If so, maybe you can set up a deal with a trusted TESTy who can buy it for you?

 

[Lorddarthvik]

nope, it is indeed broken AF.

Vanddul swarm was alright, did it in a stock gladius in solo. I did the same what @Ayeteeone said, jousting/kiteing the ships away, using speeeed and poooweeer! AKA Boost and over the SCM limit. Was on my last life, but managed to make it on first try.

Tried Pirate Swarm (in gladius and a the bigger vandul fighter whatever its called), and found the following differences:

Vandys are pretty squishy at the moment, they don't have 99.5% accuracy under all circumstances, and their missiles can be dodged. Also they don't match every single move you make perfectly regardless of ship type and speed, with every single fight ending in seizure inducing flashing of shields while in an unbreakable circle of death. Oh, and you can actually get a missile lock on them sometimes.
So totally the opposite of the Pirate ships.

It is fair and balanced, in the regard that you should get trashed in a 1vs10 scenario really. I got killed on wave 3 and 4, by auroras and their missiles. 7 out of 8 deaths I was splashed with a missile (2 is enough for a full kill), and one time by 2 short bursts from a badger repeater (probably a shield hole in the vandy ship?). So yeah, it is basically unplayable in solo.

TLDR.: I wouldn't bother really, maybe with a larger group of ppl in some heavy hitters?
Is the ship you want giftable? If so, maybe you can set up a deal with a trusted TESTy who can buy it for you?

edit: oh, and have I mentioned that player deployed CM doesn't do shit? lol

Edit edit: NOOOOO I wanted to click Edit, Not Reply!! and I'm not even drunk yet!
sry

 

[Deroth]

Since it doesn't seem to be allowing ship component upgrades at this time, my advice is get a bigger group.

 

[marcsand2]

Last time I completed it was 3.10. In PTU, ships are customizable again, which helps a lot!!! Wait for the IAE 2950. Hopefully the Pirate Gladius also will get IAE insurance

 

[Radegast74]

Last time I completed it was 3.10. In PTU, ships are customizable again, which helps a lot!!! Wait for the IAE 2950. Hopefully the Pirate Gladius also will get IAE insurance

I'm confused, if you complete Pirate Swarm, you get a chance to buy a Pirate Gladius (or Cat, or both) with LTI ... why would you want IAE 10 year insurance on one?

 

[BUTUZ]

Yeh they changed it so the AI actually move and shoot now. your days of seal clubbing are over! :S

 

[Starscribe]

I'm confused, if you complete Pirate Swarm, you get a chance to buy a Pirate Gladius (or Cat, or both) with LTI ... why would you want IAE 10 year insurance on one?

It doesn't have LTI. 6m only.

 

[marcsand2]

I'm confused, if you complete Pirate Swarm, you get a chance to buy a Pirate Gladius (or Cat, or both) with LTI ... why would you want IAE 10 year insurance on one?

Only the initial one had LTI, @Starscribe was ahead of me with answering that question.

With the Glaive, I initially also only had a 24 or 48 month insurance. In my head I only wanted to pay that amount for LTI. Case closed.
At Anniversary 2017 I had an option to get a Glaive with 60 month insurance, I bought that as a TEST.
At Anniversary 2018 I got the option to buy a Glaive with 72 months insurance, so I melted the 60 months Glaive and bought the 72 months Glaive.
At Anniversary 2019 I got the option to buy a Glaive with 120 months insurance, so I melted my 72 months Glaive and bought the 120 months Glaive.

The big difference between the Glaive / Pirate Caterpillar and the Pirate Glaive is that I always have the option to buy one, when they are in stock. The Glaive only is in stock during Anniversary sales, the pirate cat is permanently available, although I already own both.
The Pirate Gladius is a special case. It only was available for me when I earned it. After I bought it, I didn't had any option anymore to buy another one. Mine has LTI, so it is perfectly fine. I earned it at the introduction
It may be possible, that they also offer the Pirate Gladius with Anniversary sale insurance, if you still have an option to buy a Pirate Gladius. 120 months always is better then 6 months

 

[marcsand2]

So I'm basically left having to dog fight every single one of them.

yeah, that is how I beat PS every time. You might want to take a beefier ship like the Sabre of Vanguard. Pirates tend to shoot back. The pesky part is the last mission. First you must beat the pesky M50s, they swarm you, but when you beat enough of them, reinforcement M50s come to help you. Take as much M50s out as fast as you can, then your reinforcement M50s can swarm the HH. If you are too slow, then the HH beats the reinforcement M50s before they can form a swarm.