Those of you who have done the new Pirate Swarm

[Black Sunder]

First, apparently the Gladius is only available from a 'public match'. What is this?

Second, what sort of ship would you recommend and can it be done as a group?

 

[Wolfy]

I just did it using a Vanguard Sentinel, did it through matchmaking. Not the best ship but it was good to have the EMP during the last Hammerhead fight.

 

[Mich Angel]

First, apparently the Gladius is only available from a 'public match'. What is this?

Second, what sort of ship would you recommend and can it be done as a group?

I done it my self in single play and apparently that don't count...
but doing as a group in MP would be like a breath of fresh air easy compared to doing it by your lonesome in single player like I did.. wasted.. time..

And doing it with Harbinger or Sentinel works great done it with both by my self ..
Tho I think Sentinel was easier than Harbinger, they both stood up good.

 

[Doyzer]

Warden is a good choice, Ballistic weapons for Hammerhead. Must be done in multiplayer, I believe Pirate Gladius is a stand alone warbond only non giftable and non upgradeable ship.

 

[Mich Angel]

Warden is a good choice, Ballistic weapons for Hammerhead. Must be done in multiplayer, I believe Pirate Gladius is a stand alone warbond only non giftable and non upgradeable ship.

Yeah or upgrade Aurora with new cash to it .. give same version as it seem.

 

[marcsand2]

Warden. The pesky Merlins become a hindrance, but it has enough skin to survive that

 

[Esctasy]

I tied it twice with a SH but wasn't able to make it past Wave 7 :(. Too many shooting at me and when I try to run away I crash into the game boundary.
Edit:
I think long range with S5 weapons could work, instead of getting close and having all of them attack you, you can try and snipe them off from far. I haven't test this just a theory I have.

 

[Mich Angel]

Do pirate swarm in Dying star if you do it in single player on your own or Private with party for training and practice then you don't get disturbed from uninvited guests
...And Dying start is a lot larger map size then it was before much larger now.

 

[DirectorGunner]

So quick tip, sharing from what Necro_Infernus discovered, during infinite loading bug in AC MP, simply hit backspace once to initiate auto-destruct and wait for your ship to blow up.
The bug is that the loading screen won't go away even though you are spawned in AC multiplayer map with everyone else. But getting blown up and getting the respawn option will get rid of the loading screen and allow you to press X to respawn. You lose a life this way but it at least allows you to play to unlock the pirate gladius and pirate cat. The pirate gladius Warbond has LTI and is $90.

I used the Vanguard Sentinel with Ballistic canons on the nose and Gimbaled Attrition (the 2nd energy repeater) and the class B military coolers from some other ship, and x32 size 2 missiles by using the 890j missile racks, albeit it seems to not register all missiles in-game, but having those 890j racks do allow 8 missiles per rack and you can put four of them on the vanguard. Also, to enable your EMP which is off by default, you have to enable/turn on your second weapon group from your cockpit console, by default it's your lower right screen IIRC.

 

[Radegast74]

I just did it using a Vanguard Sentinel, did it through matchmaking. Not the best ship but it was good to have the EMP during the last Hammerhead fight.

Isn't there an option to put together a party (of TESTies) in AC? and would that get us the Pirate Gladius?

I finished it in single player with a Warden, it definitely helpd to go after the P-52's in a group, 1 v. 1 they just kept zooming by me.

 

[DirectorGunner]

Isn't there an option to put together a party (of TESTies) in AC? and would that get us the Pirate Gladius?

I finished it in single player with a Warden, it definitely helpd to go after the P-52's in a group, 1 v. 1 they just kept zooming by me.

We just did that, in the TEST discord, Squadron channel #6, JoePancakes, Malikin, and Necro_Infernus are still in there if you want to join them now.
But yea in general sounds like a good idea!

 

[Doggen]

Just for the record, i bought mine with store credit so its not warbond only :)
Also doesnt show up in PU yet but I believe it does in PTU.

This is the loadout:

Pirate Gladius Weapon loadout: 2x M4A Laser Autocannon ,1x Scorpion GT-215

 

[Crymsan]

Public match just means gotta team up. I did this on the old pirate swarm for the caterpillar skin every now and again you would get a decent player with you to make it possible. I haven't tried the latest version.

 

[Crimsontarget]

Just for additional point - the pirate gladius does go to buyback if you sell it. You don't have to beat pirate swarm again for another chance to earn it.

Sucks that you cannot upgrade from it though.

 

[Deroth]

'Public Match' just means it has to be done under the 'Multiplayer' option of AC.

I completed it flying a Defender grouped with a random person that was flying a MIS. By making a point of keeping fights between 2k and 3k as much as possible I was able to snipe my way through with minimal damage and ~2/3rds of the kills.

 

[Radegast74]

YES! I did it! started off with me in a Vanguard, 2 Banu Defenders, and a Super Hornet...ended with just me and a single Banu Defender. I made sure to stay out of the line of fire of the Defenders, and gutted it out against a couple P-52's until the reinforcements arrived. YAY!

The webpage took me first to the store credit version ($110 and only 6 month insurance), so I had to hunt a little bit to get the $90 cash warbond version. Along the way, I was really tempted by the $345 combo Pirate Caterpillar & Pirate Gladius....hmmmmm....

 

[mr-hasgaha]

CIG has put out a few of these "beat Arena Commander and get this prize/badge/access" events before... and I believe they have always been tied to PUBLIC MULTIPLAYER matches. They don't always explain that clearly though.

As for ships... Monk and I got all the way to the Hammerhead with a Super Hornet and Arrow but couldn't put a dent in the HH. I ended up giving up and ramming the bridge TEST-style at the 45 minute mark.... which did nothing to the HH.

I've heard the base Freelancer is an unbeatable tank in AC right now but the Merlins act like annoying mosquitoes.

I'd also think the Vanguards would be good.

 

[Esctasy]

Here is an update for me. I cleared everything up to the HH on both a Sabre and Harbinger (without any deaths). Then I spent 30+ mins just shooting at the HH (my poor wrist). Could not put a dent in him, once in awhile I'd get 60 or 120 points. One of my session was ballistics and I ran out, on the sabre I gave up. I upgraded the cooler and power plant so I could basically fire non-stop forever on both ships.

Then I joined multiplayer with a Warden. With me was 2 other players Gladius and Hornet. The HH went down in like 1 min.

 

[PeppaPigKilla]

At the end when you fight the hammerhead we got support off AI and it was the AI in the kill feed that took down the hammerhead

 

[Esctasy]

Yes I saw all the support, but they all die so fast lol, only I was left. Not all of them attack at once, some was just flying around further away and died later. I think if they all attacked at once I could have the dps burst. But both times the support wasn't helpful at all.

Edit:
You said "WE" so you were in multiplayer? I had no problems with the HH in multiplayer. Just when soloing it.