Setting up a Castor gunship

Empire gunships really are the turds of Star Conflict. I’ve been wanting to figure out their usefulness since an old post I started where the Phobos was the main focus in September 2013. They are slower than frigates. They can’t take as much damage as frigates. They don’t do impressive damage even with every damage buff there is.

 

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But seriously though, empire gunships are the kings of damage. The only ships that have the capability to out damage an empire gunship are SOME covops and SOME longranges.

 

Empire gunships are my favorite role in this game because they combine high damage and high survivability (for a fighter).

 

 

That one is one of the better performing Castor configurations of all I’ve done with it. It’s a strafer without rotation debuffs from galvanized armor. It has 24,592 survivability (at synergy 8/10) without adaptive activated. Strafe + afterburner turns on adaptive shield in less than 2 seconds. That’s excellent considering shields are supposedly almost like an optional bonus on Empire ships.

 

Going for max survivabilty (number) isn’t always a smart move. Resistances are your best friend in this game when it comes to survivability. As far as the build goes, I’m going to be honest: Sure, it isn’t the worst one I’ve ever seen, but it’s up there. Try using builds that other people have recommended for you. Cr0 really knows his stuff when it comes to gauss gunships. John161’s build is also pretty good.

 

Here is the build I would use

 

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With this build, you could switch the second galvenized for a kinetic resistance, and you could change the emergency barrier for a second iridium heatsink.

It’s funny 'cause I kill you every time I’m in an Achilles  :005j:

that’s funny cuz i win every time ur in an achilles :P 

 

Going for max survivabilty (number) isn’t always a smart move. Resistances are your best friend in this game when it comes to survivability. As far as the build goes, I’m going to be honest: Sure, it isn’t the worst one I’ve ever seen, but it’s up there. Try using builds that other people have recommended for you. Cr0 really knows his stuff when it comes to gauss gunships. John161’s build is also pretty good.

 

I’d like to edit and re-word this message altogether. I’m a mellow, age 42 guy just saying stuff instead of ranting. Sometimes my posts appear irate when they weren’t supposed to.

 

The one with 2 armor plated hulls was many posts down from the original post. The original post one has a galvanized armor, but it turns out to be not enough galvanized armor by popular opinion. I only used the strafe, adaptive, armor-plated, particle purge ship for some pve and open space experimenting. It was better than the single galvanized armor one for that. I took it into pvp with 2 galvanized armors, emergency barrier, combat reboot, and it was very durable.

unnecessary excess post deleted by author

Here’s my “just like everybody else” Castor. The details could just be stated in a few sentences instead of going through a series of posts of insults directed at a poster or a build first. I’ll demonstrate how brief this can be:

 

This is the only way: For every engine slot, put a vernier engine in. For every vernier engine, put a galvanized armor in. Emergency barrier is the first priority for capacitor. Combat reboot is the most necessary active module. Don’t think outside the box by trying to make it a fast strafer that can rotate without vernier engines.

 

See? I did it in six sentences.

 

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There is a reason why we are telling you to stick on all of these required modules. They boost the effectiveness of the ship and play into its strengths.

 

A few pointers:

  • Too many armor plateds, while lowering the requirement for adaptives, will make you even slower than usual. Which will worsen your complaint about Empire gunships being slow.
  • You want rotation speed? Press F. You want even more rotation speed? Verniers, no galvanizeds, and implant.
  • You want strafe speed? Use Cr0’s build. 
  • You want fast? Use engine overcharge. You want even more fast? Follow a command with a speed buff. It will help you reposition your “xxxx” more effectively.
  • EB + CR = quite a bit of invuln time for you to heal and GTFO.
  • Empire gunships are best suited for brawling, in your face fights. Federation gunships are meant only for hit and run, and cannot sustain themselves/survive as well in a prolonged fight as well as Empire gunships.
  • Federation gunships are faster and more maneuverable, but lack the damage output that Empire gunships can dish out.

This should be plenty for you to think about.

I even made a video of me flying the beloved, holy galvanized armor, vernier engines, emergency barrier, combat reboot Castor, and it features everyone’s favorite action including emergency barrier activation and use of combat reboot. I was able to pick up 4 unidentified minerals! wow. I just had to be sure I stayed over 6000 meters from everything else.  If you want to know how the story of the predator daily ends, I used a rank 10 recon called Black Bomber to go to the Wastes zone and kill the predator alone in one visit… because a recon is useful.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtubhwkBX6c

 

waaaaaaaaaaaaait now i remember you. Wall of Text master which got more posts and topics deleted than me!

 

Whalecum back m8

I even made a video of me flying the beloved, holy galvanized armor, vernier engines, emergency barrier, combat reboot Castor, and it features everyone’s favorite action including emergency barrier activation and use of combat reboot. I was able to pick up 4 unidentified minerals! wow. I just had to be sure I stayed over 6000 meters from everything else.  If you want to know how the story of the predator daily ends, I used a rank 10 recon called Black Bomber to go to the Wastes zone and kill the predator alone in one visit… because a recon is useful.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtubhwkBX6c

 

You were asking for a PVP build, not an invasion build…

You were asking for a PVP build, not an invasion build…

 

Any build that can do something exceptional, for whoever was interested not just me.

 

This works alright in open space if I take out pulse discharger and put on a voltage regulator. It does little regular damage, so it’s a gunship that relies heavily on its main module. It is what it is. I’d still rather fly just about any other class out there.

 

With the voltage regulator on, the video would not have had any humor to it.

Here’s a fast castor setup i used to fly sometimes

 

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Here’s a fast castor setup i used to fly sometimes

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Now that’s more like it! :slight_smile:  Maybe you could use some of the cap slots for damage

Now that’s more like it! :slight_smile:  Maybe you could use some of the cap slots for damage

 

Then the fast part of “fast castor setup” would be gone  :01515:

Then the fast part of “fast castor setup” would be gone  :01515:

 

Well imo the submatter is enough.  And maybe he could use an engine slot for speed instead.

Well imo the submatter is enough.  And maybe he could use an engine slot for speed instead.

 

That’s dumb, engine speed modules are ironically the worst, the only giving proper speed is giving too many energy problems. Gunships can’t handle that, and the rotation loss would be terrible for that build. In fact I’d put Adaptive instead of submatter, and change one of those galvas for something else. Honestly putting a discharger in that build would be just a waste, 10% damage is not enough to compensate all the downsides it’s going to have over the concept of that build.

I do appreciate all the detailed ship replies. I hope others interested in utilizing an Empire Gunship can get something out of this too.

 

The ion emitters ship puzzle was just not coming together. Here’s the best I’ve got so far. The reinforced beams on hull seems to be the least beneficial part at this time. I think I’ll put a 3rd galvanized on it since I switched that table to the 5A rotation implant.

 

It’s an equal ship if I put singularity cannon on this instead of the railgun.

 

I forgot to change the missles to anything but kinetic all the way up to making these screenshots. I don’t usually do kinetic main weapon and kinetic missiles together.

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You should ho with the crit DMG implant(6b I think) or with an TTC instead of an infrared processor.

I do appreciate all the detailed ship replies. I hope others interested in utilizing an Empire Gunship can get something out of this too.

 

The ion emitters ship puzzle was just not coming together. Here’s the best I’ve got so far. The reinforced beams on hull seems to be the least beneficial part at this time. I think I’ll put a 3rd galvanized on it since I switched that table to the 5A rotation implant.

That is a better build than your first one.

 

Anyway, you should fly with the builds you feel comfortable with. Sure they might not be the most optimal ones, but if you do well on them, keep using them.

 

I won’t abuse galvanized though, I think more than 1 in anything except an imperial frigate is a waste, but that is my opinion. I know pilots using dual galva and triple verniers in interceptors and they are doing well on them.

 

For competitive builds, most of the ones posted here are good. Then you can tweak them for your tastes. I used adaptive in the castor, to make it a brawler with bubbles and also tried rails. But the submatter is also good (I use it in my bubblebringer)

double vernier. Emergency Barrier, and either pulse discharger or something that gives cap regen. adaptive shield. armor plated hull, galvanized, and beams. Horizon.

crit boost ammunition, shield and hull repair, aiming overcharge and combat reboot. Shield repair to be traded for speed boost if engineer present.

and most importantly, turn auto lock OFF and only lock when you want to use missiles. you do not want their ui to  tip them off to your location, make them look for you.

for implants you want resists, range boost, strafe boost, both module recharge times predator ant and gigas. with ions you want to be a gun platform except in rare builds where crit stacking is worth the range loss

as far as lightbringer goes, it works with a similar tanky loadout, but the apollo is a far superior option due to turning bonus and additional cap slot allowing you to go positive ab regen with an emergency parrier. It also allows you to do a cruise module setup with minor alterations, something that goes from viable especially when engineer is present to suicidal in all cases on the lightbringer.

the aura is a better tanky gunship despite being command, imo. but if you want to be maximum survivable in a high rank emp gunship you need some mild resists stacking, a big chunk of hitpoints, and shield/hull repair to mitigate extra hitpoints. rapidus is also an important implant. Alone you will be really hard to kill, with an engineer present it will take a concerted effort, especially with smart use of combat reboot.

as far as movement profile goes with ions, strafes to wasd, gradually increase/decrease to whatever keys with an easy to reach hotkey for set speed to zero, and my favorite, bind afterburner to spacebar.

think space helicopter with a 4000m+ reach.

also, is there any way i can turn off maximum speed when using afterburners? I miss using them for side strafing

double vernier. Emergency Barrier, and either pulse discharger or something that gives cap regen. adaptive shield. armor plated hull, galvanized, and beams. Horizon.

crit boost ammunition, shield and hull repair, aiming overcharge and combat reboot. Shield repair to be traded for speed boost if engineer present.

and most importantly, turn auto lock OFF and only lock when you want to use missiles.

 

Hello BCHyperion. I made a video of your Castor configuration. My implants are a little different.

 

There are some things in the beginning of the battle that you might laugh at. 1. my lookaround at launch where I’m the last in line 2. The LRF (my 2nd target) 3. my shield and hull while getting back home. Of course, this is not how things work in real skirmish.

 

I went with voltage regulator instead of pulse discharger.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNb4kzMo7SQ