Artillery Cruiser 101 Part1

TLDR: Tunnel vision will kill you! Watch the mini-map specifically for Corvette and Light Des players. Remember your range is 7km, beyond that don’t bother it’s a waste of time.

The Artillery Cruisers a ship class I both loathe in game and generally dislike playing, that doesn’t mean I don’t play them I just don’t play them well. As I stated in my previous posts I am a firm believer that everyone should play every class at least 5 full games to learn the basics of that class. What follows is what I have learned about Artillery Cruisers besides the fact that I dislike them. (Don’t take my word for it, go try them!)

I will start with some quick pointers: #1 Unlike every other ship class when you hold the RMB(Right Mouse Button) down you get NO aim assist on your primary or secondary weapons, so learn to lead your targets. #2 You are a delicate little flower, maybe not as fragile as a corvette, but your a fairly easy target that doesn’t move around nearly as much as a corvette does. #3 Only the light Artillery Cruiser can fire in any direction, the medium and heavy have a forward facing cone for their main weapon. Secondaries can fire in any direction so when a corvette gets behind you, and they will switch to secondaries! #4 Unfortunately as of v1.0.3 Artillery cruisers are matched by the Zmey and Gora. #5 Move with your team, bob and weave. #6 Know the maps. #7 Watch that mini map!

#1 With every ship in the Artillery Cruiser line when you hold the RMB down you will get no aim assist like other ships get. This goes not only for your primary weapon, but secondaries as well. This makes the learning curve a bit steeper because you need to learn to lead your targets correctly. The secondary weapons are the same across the AC line but the primary weapons systems will have different travel times to target so it is also important you learn the travel speed of your main gun.

#2 You are not the Dreadnought, you are much closer to a corvette as far as you hitpoints go. Though you lack the corvettes maneuverability and generally must rely on friendly ships to defend you against corvette attacks. Your surviveability goes up when you use some modules, like Armor Amp.

#3 Knowing your firing arc is immensely important for all but the light AC. When you aim it is not necessary to have your ship pointed directly at your target, but it must be pointed in that general direction. Often I find it helpful to aim slightly away and continue moving forward while firing at a target that is almost at max range.

#4 Speaking of range Artillery cruisers, as of the writing of this post, are not the longest range ships in the game. As of the writing of this article, you will be in range of all Artillery Cruisers, Zmey, and Gora class ships. Knowing this means you can watch out for ships trying to harass you using their similar range against you..

#5 Do not camp, I know you’ve been told 1000s of times but seriously, if you don’t you will die...a lot. Moving with the rest of the ships also makes you harder to be singled out and destroyed.

#6 I will say this for every ship, every time, know the map! It will save your life over and over again knowing where you can hide and where the enemy will be hiding.

#7 Corvettes will be the death of you, even more so if you don’t watch your mini map. I know, I know you can’t watch it 100% of the time but it needs to become something you are always glancing at.

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