Tactical Cruiser 101 Part2

TLDR: Aion is a good starting point but Kali is better until you hit level 25, the buy short list; Light Machine Gun, Repair Drones, Nuclear Mine, Repair Autobeams, Energy Generator, Retaliator, Module Amper, Engine Rigger, and Adrenaline Shot.

Abilities, Officer Briefings, and some builds what to use and why. First the abilities, hopefully I can save you some money by not having to do the trial and error thing too much. I’m Just going to go over what I consider the best modules/officer briefings for the slots and why.

A quick look at your starting abilities on the Aion:

(P) Primary Weapon healing/damage beam: Keep this in mind the Aion heals a maximum of 800 and close range and does 600 damage at close range, so 75% of the time healing will serve your team better than dealing damage.

(S) Light Rocket Turrets, terrible, in the Aion unless you’re shooting at a Dread use your primary weapon by the time you get to Koschei you’ll have the Light Machine Guns switch as soon as possible.

(sI) Tesla Coil Pod, great damage output, but an even better distraction when people can either shoot at you or destroy the pod.

(sII) Repair Pod, good enough but better things come down the line. Use the pods as often as possible.

(sIII) Blast Pulse, one of the few modules I would almost, ALMOST call OP for Tacs.

(sIV) Autorepair, not bad, but energy > health for tacs.

(O/B ___) All O/Bs are 101, the 101 briefings will get you to 25 but you should upgrade as you go. I go over what upgrades are wanted a little later in the article.

Secondary Weapons: Light Machine Guns are generally the best / most useful option here. Good firepower combined with excellent range for a secondary weapon mean you can get kills on fleeing corvettes and low health destroyers fairly easily. Tesla Turrets deal AMAZING damage but you will need to be almost on top of the enemy to use it so I don’t normally use them.

(sI) Primary Modules: I would say 99% of the time Repair Drones will be what you want to run here. They will help you survive corvette runs, sniper attacks, and a bit extra healing when needed. Until you get it you should consider Beam Amplifier, just remember it drains all your energy so use it when you’re already out of energy or if you have an energy generator in slot IV. If you plan on using Energy Generator Beam the way it should be used is 1) drain energy, 2) Beam Amp, & 3) IMMEDIATELY after using beam amp hit Energy Generator and power to your weapons. You will not believe the healing output that combination gives you.

(sII) Secondary Modules: Repair pods will be your primary ability until you get the Nuclear Mine, then switch to it ASAP. The Nuclear Mine will make corvettes have a bad day, when they start their run on you with about 50% health they are going to have a BAD day! A recent test confirmed that a Valcour looses 80% health when hit by a Nuclear Mine deployed with power to weapons. It is my opinion that the Nuclear mind is the best option for Tac Cruiser players because it gives you both a defensive and offensive weapon. Placing the mine where you think a corvette will come through to attack you generally means they will be starting the attack about 50% health which generally means you should be able to  solo kill it. As an offensive weapon you can launch it straight at a close enemy and move away, you may take damage but it will do significantly more to them. These lead to three fold deterrent to Corvette pilots damage, demoralization, and denial, damage is obvious. Demoralization because having to attack an enemy when you are starting at 50% health and not knowing why or even knowing you ran into a mine SUCKS. Because veteran players will see the Nuclear Mines they have to avoid them, which means they have to deviate from their planned route.

(sIII)Perimeter Modules: This depends if you are more concerned with your own survivability or being able to put out MAXIMUM healing. For survivability Blast Pulse is the only way to go, if you want max healing go with Repair Autobeams. Eventually you should get Overclock pulse for team support, it’s amazing when combined with Overclock Module(sIV). Healing focus is easy, Repair Autobeams make it easier to heal because the beams will focus on up to two targets within 1200m of your ship. Blast pulse combined with Nuclear Mine generally means corvettes aren’t a problem, unless it’s a heavy corvette but even then you have a fighting chance. If you manage to get a well coordinated team having a healer with Overclock Pulse can make the a significant difference to the team, but it really should to be used with a team using long cooldown modules.

(sIV)Internal Modules: Honestly this is the hardest section to pick an ability from. Energy Generator is IMHO the BEST if you want to dedicate yourself to healing. With descent energy management you will (or should) never have 0 energy unless your using Beam Amp. A close second place for sIV is Target Warp, this combined with Slow and Steady can give you amazing survivability without sacrificing mobility. I use a Target Warp equipped Koschei when there are a lot of enemy corvettes on the field. It also means when your dreadnoughts warp into the enemy team you can jump slightly after and keep them up. Overclock Module(OM) should only be considered late game if combined with Overclock Pulse(OP). Use OP and then OM then OP which speeds up OMs cooldown.

Communications Officer: Retaliator is your goal here, but level 46 is a long ways away. Until then Desperate Measures is as good as it gets for Tactical Cruiser although Communications 101 is fairly good too so if you dont have the money keep 101 until level 46 where you unlock Retaliatior.

Weapons Officer: Weapons 101 will get you by, but upgrade to Module Amper(MA) when you can. Upgrading to MA means when you activate a mine, pulse, or Repair Autobeams or drones they will be 30% better. Glass Cannon can be considered, just remember you ARE a TARGET and more than likely when you need that 25% damage you will be under 100% health, think corvette runs.

Navigation Officer: Navigation 101 works until you can get Engine Rigger for the speed. This turns the Koschei into a ship that can keep up with the fleet, which in turn means better team performance and a higher score for you. If you’re using (sIV) Target Warp then using Slow and Steady can be a huge boon, just remember you will need to use warp and generally not power to engines to get out or into healing positions. NEVER EVER use Navigation Expert, you will have 30% less time powering weapons or shields, it SUCKS on these two Tac Cruisers!

Chief Engineering: Use 101 until you gain access to Adrenaline Shot, then nothing else should be used. There are no options for healers, don’t even think about it. Honestly there's nothing in the engineering officer briefings that is even close to the value of Adrenaline Shot. The most ridiculous thing is healing someone else while taking damage and being healed, it is almost impossible to run out of energy in that situation. Another bonus is that it is very good on any heavy ship or on that takes a lot of damage just for the energy gain.

Base Tactical Cruiser Shopping List:

Level - Iteml - Misc

01 - Aion - Don’t buy if you have the Kali

04 - Energy Generator

06 - Repair Autobeams

06 - Slow and Steady

10 - Target Warp

11 - Adrenaline Shot

12 - Light Machine Guns

13 - Desperate Measures

18 - Module Amper

20 - Repair Drones

25 - Koschei

27 - Nuclear Mine

34 - Engine Rigger

46 - Retaliator

Once you have these abilities think about expanding on the base Tactical Cruiser abilities. If you enjoyed the video swing by my stream I am generally live Monday-Friday from Noon Pacific to about 6pm.

Tactical Cruiser 101 Part1
Tactical Cruiser 101 Part3