The Long Range Frigate (LRF)
Summary :
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LRF, their goal, weakness, and advantages.
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Special modules
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Actives modules.
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Tips.
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Build ideas.
LRF, their goal, weakness, and advantages :
LRF, like there name say, are long range fire support. Like gunships and covert ops, they are designed
to deal an insane amount of damage. You can find them with the Empire or with Jericho. A contrary to covert ops or gunships that rely on boost to deal damage, LRF have a raw higher DPS than anybody else with their guns. How ? Thanks to their 6 big turrets, 2 more turrets then guard and engi, which mean 50% more damage.
Wait, you said long range fire support. But where’s the ‘long range’ ?
Easy : I talked about their guns, but I forgot one thing. Their special ! I’ll explain it further in the second part. But you should know that their special is a new weapon that has long range and high damage. Or course, you are not forced to use it and can use only your guns, and build your ship with range modules to stay safe.
So they are powerful, and have a good range. But what are the pro and cons of playing LRF ?
Like I said, LRF have a true firepower (The best in game) and the longest range too. But their problem is that they are slow fat and not that tanky. In fact, LRF have a 20% health malus. So LRF are really great when it come to put pressure on the enemy team, but they also need to rely more on help from team mates than any other class. A Covert Ops on their back is the end for them. But a LRF that stay alive on a team fight = death on the enemy team.
LRF also benefit from a special missile called Minefields which release mines that can explode up to 4 times and deal a fair amount of damage. Great as a defense for sniping.
Special modules :
First, you need to know that Jericho LRF (JLRF) and Empire LRF (ELRF) are different ! JLRF and ELRF are not only respectively shield tanking and hull tanking, but also have a different special module. The ELRF possess a special called Disintegrator, which basically is a sniper. While JLRF have a Guided Torpedoes that deal AOE damage.
LRF’s specials are not affected by implants so the r4 missile implant won’t buff the guided torpedoes sadly. But the damage special scale like covert ops, with the guns level. So an mk4 weapon will allow to deal more damage with your special than with an mk1.
Also, when a LRF uses his special, the ship progressively stops itself and directly enters a new mode with a completely new display. While in this mode, you can’t move anymore, and have a reduced field of vision, but you can still use active modules. So be careful and don’t use it when there’s an enemy at 500 meters. You should know that you can still shoot missiles in this mode.
Disintegrator
The Empire special module. When you activate it, your ship goes into sniping mode. To deactivate this mode, simply reactivate the special module. When you go into sniping mode, you have to wait for the first shot to load before firing. A shot takes about 3-4 seconds to charge (18 RoF). Notice that when you lock on to a target in sniping mode, the prediction marker adapts itself to show where to shoot.
Be aware that when you aim with this mode, enemy pilots will see a red beam from your ship as a targeting indicator. (doesn’t do damage, just for warning purposes). This red beam makes you highly visible to enemies in the vicinity of the beams direction. Disitegrator has a high projectile speed and long range (about 10k). But you should use it on targets that are between 3k and 7k distance, otherwise it can be hard to land a hit.
Guided Torpedoes
The Jericho special module. When you activate it, your ship goes into sniping mode and instantly shoots a guided torpedo. Once your torpedoe explodes, you leave the sniping mode and go back to normal.
There are 2 ways to make the torp explode : Hit your Target (Rock, Player, Beacon or whatever) or press “F”.
In fact, with this mode, you can control the torpedoes with mouse and keyboard to make them turn,… When the torp explodes, it unleashes an AOE damage with a 1000m radius, then leaves a cloud that deals damage over time for the next 10 seconds with a 400m radius.
The torp is great for area denial, but can be destroyed by guards missile shield and flares will disrupt the control of your torp. Btw, the torp is slow, so you should use it between 1300 to 5000 range. Above that distance, the travel time is higher than reload time, if you’re not using tachyon. Explained further below. Be carfull when shooting at stuff within 1000 meters of yourself, you’ll take the hit from your own torp!
Actives modules :
So, active modules. LRF comes with 5 specific modules. Oh, I forgot to say ! LRF special isn’t affected by implants/critical, BUT is affected by the LRF active modules. LRF modules are made to improve their special and protect them.
Weapon Overcharge (rank 1 and above)
Nothing more then a damage buff for your special. The next shot within 20 second will have a great damage boost. Sadly, you can’t use it with his brother Tachyoon overcharge. If you had the tachyoon buff but didn’t use it before weapon overcharge activation, then the tachyoon buff disappear. Weapon overcharge allow a great burst for slower targets (Because you are sure to hit them) so is great to take down another LRF or an engineering frigate, or even a guard, while against interceptors, it’s a bit useless.
Tachyoon Overcharge (rank 4 and above)
Weapon overcharge’s brother. This one grant a BIG projectile speed buff (over 100%). Like Weapon Overcharge, if you use it under WO buff, it just simply remove it to give you the speed buff. Tachyoon reveal itself better to kill faster targets. A tachyoon guided torpedoes is a fear for interceptors. Don’t waste that buff, be carefull with your shot. The buff last 20 seconds, and even at 19.9 seconds, if you shot a torp, the whole torp flight will benefit of the speed buff. But using it during the torp’s travel won’t give a speed boost to it.
EM Scattering Field (rank 4 and above)
This one is like adaptive camo for covert ops.It make you untargetable but still visible. But while CO can’t shot and can move with their camo, LRF is the opposite ! With EM Scattering field, if you move, it disrupt the camo. But using your special/guns/missiles don’t break it. It transform you into a big turret. So be really careful of where to use it. Enemy can still see you but their HUD show nothing and the captain in recon mode still see you on his HUD (But can’t target you). It’s all a mater of placement.
Infrared Pulsar (IR Pulsar) (rank 7 and above)
This one, is the strict opposite of EM scattering field. Uppon activation, everybody that locked on you have their targeting system disabled (Even if they are at 15k range) for 30 seconds. This is just HORRIBLE for many ships. ECM and Tacklers will cry, but it also mean that you have to expose yourself if you want if to be effective and that you can’t use it under EM because they can’t lock on you. it have a long cooldown so don’t waste it.
(Where is his icon on the wiki ?) Reverse Thruster (rank 7 and above)
This one have been added recently. It’s a module that you can’t buy and need to craft. It also have a huge power in right hands and was for a long time considered as broken.
Reverse Thruster is a teleportation 5000 meters backward. Also, you CAN’T crash with it. If there’s something between you and your land point, then you’ll appears right in front of that thing. So watch behind you before using it.
Be careful too, when you activate RT, it takes 2.5 seconds before you move, and decrease all your resistances of a big amount. You’ll need to use it before beeing attacked or you’ll just end up beeing destroyed.
Tips :
There are some tricks to know when you play with LRF that aren’t explained in the tooltip.
First one and the easier is about EM Scattering field. You know that when you move, it break the radar invisibility. But, there’s a way to move under cloak. Before activating EM, make your ship goes to max speed then launch EM. The ship will continue to move for moment and his speed will decrease slowly but that’s won’t break EM. You can then travel under cloak under your ship stop itself. If you want to stop, DO NOT press the backward button but a special keybind that is “Decrease ship speed progressively to 0”. This keybind won’t break EM.
You should also know that you can use RT under EM. It won’t break cloak !
The second one is about Disintegrator. There’s one problem with Disintegrator is that it show to your target your location thanks to a big red beam, and also ask hi, to start evasive maneuvers.
What we don’t want is to bypass that problem. Once you’ve locked a target, don’t aim at the prediction marker until your shot is ready ! It’s a mistake that most players do. Else, aim at rocks (Or launch the missile EM torpedoes at a beacon) until your shot is ready and you feel comfortable enough to hit your target. Then shot at the prediction marker fast enough.
It require some precision, but allow to surprise your enemy and have an easier hit without saying “Hello, I’m here !”.
Another one is about Guided Torpedoes and guards. Guards with missiles shield are a pain for JLRF. But there’s a way to counter it. You can launch a missile and then launch your special. One of them will be blocked but the other one won’t.
Another tip is about minefields and RT. Minefields on a beacon is really powerful. The goal is to release them right into a beacon, then use RT. You can for example cloak first, and move to the beacon thanks to the tips above, release your minefield and press RT. Now, watch them explode.
Build ideas.
There’s 2 way to play an LRF : Far from any fight, with long range weapons/special. Or in medium range with guns support.
That way, there’s 2 way to build an LRF.
For the first one, you’ll use your CPU slots to have more range with your guns. Stack thermal resist because you’ll mainly beeing hit by other LRF and plasma arc. You should also take survival modules that regenerate your health. Most of the time, you’ll be outside engineers range, and so they won’t heal you so you need them to survive longer.Also take EM scattering field, and go hide yourself near a rock. That’s all you need.
For example, with the Cerberus that have 3 hull, one shield, one cpu, and one motor, you would have a build like :
2 galvanized armor + 1 thermal hull resistance.
1 Thermal shield resistance.
Horizon
Max speed engine.
EM + hull regen + Tachyoon overcharge + RT
You should also think about Minefields or EM torpedoes to protect yourself.
Else, for a mid range LRF with guns, you need the higher thank you can and enough rotation to aim. It’s very similar to the first build, but you don’t need to stack thermal resistance and use horizon.
For the Cerberus it would be :
2 galvanized armor + 1 armor plated
Shield strength
Critical chance bonus
Rotation engine
Hull regen + RT + Tachyoon + Hull resistance
Done !
Feel free to ask some questions or correct me, or even add information/pictures
SENPAI~!
