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Post by zuthal on Oct 14, 2016 16:38:54 GMT
As the title says, I am stuck on that mission. I tried it with a standard, high-energy Hohmann+plane change intercept - run out of delta-V, plus it won't calculate a flyby for missiles due to it ending in a crash - we really need an option to override that.
Tried it with a bi-elliptic transfer... run out of time. How did you guys solve this mission?
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Post by RA2lover on Oct 14, 2016 16:43:41 GMT
I've ignored the plane change and directly went for a elliptical flyby instead.
You really don't have much of a window to attack with the default ships while taking that option, though - the approach speed in that scenario is over 25km/s, and i've had better results with a large manually detonated flak missile instead.
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Post by captinjoehenry on Oct 14, 2016 18:39:46 GMT
Well try making a custom ship that is unarmored and just has some guns as the target is unarmed and unarmoured. So just make a ship with all the delta v there is give it some shitty guns and a crew and send it in.
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Post by cuddlefish on Oct 14, 2016 18:58:40 GMT
This mission honestly just makes me wonder how the USTA actually uses that depot. I get that it needs to be low to skim the methane, but it seems like the amount of effort to reach it would make trying to get supplies from there a net loss.
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Post by zuthal on Oct 14, 2016 19:57:04 GMT
captinjoehenry, RA2lover, I think I will combine both your ideas, in a light, stripped-down missile boat.
And yeah, cuddlefish. I think something that makes a bit more sense for a propellant depot that skims methane would be a highly elliptical orbit with a very low periapsis. How do you call that on Neptune?
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Post by wafflestoo on Oct 14, 2016 20:11:56 GMT
Using the default fleet I did a bielliptic maneuver to execute the plane change, fully refueled the combat ship and split it off from the tanker, then spent the next three passes to match orbits and sync up for the intercept.
It wasn't so much a battle as an execution.
I am a horrible person
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Post by nerd1000 on Oct 15, 2016 1:11:26 GMT
captinjoehenry, RA2lover, I think I will combine both your ideas, in a light, stripped-down missile boat. And yeah, cuddlefish. I think something that makes a bit more sense for a propellant depot that skims methane would be a highly elliptical orbit with a very low periapsis. How do you call that on Neptune? The problem is less the low apoapsis/periapsis and more the fact that it is a polar orbit. Inclination changes are almost always very expensive dV wise, and the rest of the Neptune system is roughly in line with the ecliptic, so why put the station in a polar orbit? I completed the level with a modified version of the privateer ship, equipped with drones rather than missiles. The drones had enough dV that I only needed to get my privateer into a elliptical orbit with the right inclination before launching them. The drones encountered the target at a very high velocity- so fast that the stock stingers couldn't aim at the station before they'd blown past it. I modified them with turreted guns, which fixed that problem.
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Post by goduranus on Oct 18, 2016 5:33:17 GMT
The way to go is to extend your orbit around Neptune, then make your plane change around the apoapsis. You can save some deltaV to get gold by launch the missiles on a flyby, as the missiles have lots of deltaV
Though, really, who would put a fuel station in a polar orbit?
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Post by dragonkid11 on Oct 18, 2016 5:51:55 GMT
This level is just so bloody difficult, I'm tempted to make a ship with broken coilgun that fire 1g projectile at 5% of light speed just to get it done with.
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Post by shiolle on Oct 18, 2016 7:51:04 GMT
Got it on my third try. On my first try I forgot to detach the tanker and ended up in a 6km/s flyby with the target. On my second try I've thrusted in a wrong direction and got into a retrograde orbit relative to the target. On my third try I've had enough fuel left in the tanker to return to the starting orbit, and when I entered combat with the target at a nice 400m/s I found I had missiles all along. Damn. It's was a fun mission.
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Post by redparadize on Oct 18, 2016 17:32:52 GMT
I did it with a gun drone strike in a direct intercept. Its unarmored, you just need to get one hit on something vital, 25kms intercept anyway, armor would not have changed much. Large volume of bullet deal with that easily.
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Post by boomertiro on Oct 18, 2016 18:36:50 GMT
For those questioning the logic of the station, it has all the time in the world to periodically send and receive, there are a million cheap, economic ways to use the moons around neptune to drop onto and leave the skimmer station, thus making it profitable. By putting it polar you also limit the options of intercepts so it's a well defended station merely by location. If the USTA had been smart enough to leave a warship around it or nearby the long shot of a fast intercept with a cheap high delta-v weapon before re-enforcements can save it wouldn't have happened. But there is a lot of risk leaving something too close to Neptune so the economic option was kept. It is a civilian structure after all that just happens to be supplying the military.
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Post by cuddlefish on Oct 20, 2016 18:51:51 GMT
It may be civilian infrastructure, but as described it is crucial to their ability to operate. If the UFP intelligence analysts are able to determine it's a single point of failure, then presumably the USTA admiralty is equally aware. On the one hand, they had such a long detection distance for any RFP assets that you can redeploy in reaction... the IR are described as having been in hostility with the USTA in past, and obviously they had military equipment in range to attack. It's not implausible as such, but it certainly is sloppy of them. They'd have been much safer with an accessible orbit and a garrison, which would probably be cheaper in propellant overall.
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Post by boomertiro on Oct 21, 2016 19:07:05 GMT
It may be civilian infrastructure, but as described it is crucial to their ability to operate. If the UFP intelligence analysts are able to determine it's a single point of failure, then presumably the USTA admiralty is equally aware. On the one hand, they had such a long detection distance for any RFP assets that you can redeploy in reaction... the IR are described as having been in hostility with the USTA in past, and obviously they had military equipment in range to attack. It's not implausible as such, but it certainly is sloppy of them. They'd have been much safer with an accessible orbit and a garrison, which would probably be cheaper in propellant overall. Gotta think in terms of Delta-V. There is an easy, low delta-V path to get to and from the station using the surrounding moons for assistance in plane changes and such. But it takes weeks. Large fleets take time to even put together so a large fleet would be seen coming before it was together. A small fleet has to do it, but if it takes the economic path it's open to intercept for at least a month. Getting to the station in a timescale that doesn't get you stopped requires a rather limited number of already nearby ships to make hard, high delta-V burns within a very limited time frame. The polar orbit is genius for defense and still works for economics. But they didn't station any decent defenses nearby preferring to keep their troops nice and comfy at the colonies. This oversight is what has the station ultimately doomed in the given scenario, the one thing they overlooked... that someone starting from within system would in fact be desperate enough to risk people falling into Neptune for a poorly armed craft to pull it off.
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Post by chasergrey on Oct 23, 2016 1:11:36 GMT
Any tips for how to match orbital inclination? So far I've been eyeballing it, and it's a real PITA. Are there any visualization modes people have found useful for figuring out how to match inclinations?
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