Thanks, glad the guides have been helpful 👍

Yeah, but once it cuts through that shield it's like slicing through butter. I'll try replacing the Gryphons' Locust with Squalls, that should improve the fleet's efficiency, I just haven't come across a bounty that needed more firepower. I plan on recording some late game bounties this weekend, so the requirements of my fleet might change.

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Very cool; I'm looking forward to seeing you start tackling the late-game stuff (Ordos and [SUPER ALABASTER]) and how your fleet evolves to meet those challenges! Good luck and burn bright, captain!

*Record scratch, freeze frame* "Yup that's me, you're probably wondering how I got here"

I used some of my builds from the early game and thought it new ones for my larger ships. overall, tons of fun if not stressful at times lol

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Haha, I noticed! That 133 hull left on your Champion was really nail-biting! XD

"YOLO" - Sun Tzu, Art of War

They're busted, again I appologize if they get nerfed going forward 😅

I'm not sure, I'd have to experiment with it because I haven't used it before. I'd suspect a tachyon lance/squall build might do really well.

Locust missiles + HVD's at front and autopulse at sides

She auto my lance until I R 😩

sus 😑

I explain this in another video, but basically the hydras cover you from frigates and destroyers. MIRVs would leave you exposed.

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Ya, I should have been clearer that I was talking about battleship duels specifically. Though the Onslaught is still a terrible target for Hydras, the Devastators alone shot down at least half the missiles and 500 energy beam damage is awful at melting through heavy armor. Smaller/less armored ships would definitely be in trouble.

Agreed, but not every ship I fight is an Onslaught. I wanted to demo against the worst possible ship, while still being lethal to any other threat. When I post my late game guide it'll make more sense why I'm choosing seemingly less optimal builds.

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Honestly, the main reason I'm so harsh on the Hydra launcher is from a recent playthrough where my tricked out Onslaught powered through the League's Grand Blockade Armada (there were ALOT of Hydra submunitions flying around) before YOLOing into the last remaining Pegasus to kill it with my deathplosion. And I'm pretty sure my flagship would have survived that battle if it wasn't for the fact that I'm an idiot who forgot to install Solar Shielding.

funny you say that. I'm cooking up a hedge bounty now where all hell breaks loose. it should be on the channel soon 👍

18:28 - Overextending against a midline fleet can be deadly. In the few seconds after I went with full assault or eliminate commands I started to lose ships. Against other types of fleets, especially high tech or mixed, I could probably be much more aggressive. In my next video I can definitely refit my fleet to its Safety Overrides version and show off those builds. You know me, I definitely prefer SO, even if it underperforms in the late game lol

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Midline fleets are deadly for sure, but in my experience, keeping the whole fleet leashed to a defensive point tends to lead to losses through attrition. The most potent weapon you can wield is action economy, so bringing the bulk of your fleet against a smaller contingent of the enemy's ships while avoiding the rest of their fleet is usually the key to all of my fights! I think SO gets a bit of a bad rep in the late game, and it's not always deserved. Almost every ship has to transition in role and build from early to mid to late game, and I think one of the failures is people tend to focus SO on small-ish ships with no survivability and then blame their failures on SO rather than them just not adapting to a shifting battlefield. Honestly, the cleanest fight I ever had with the Omega ships was with a fleet of mostly SO Eagles and Falcons (with 360-degree shields). They made mincemeat out of those fights!

I might be being needlessly cautious, but having lost my fleet several times over from overextending, I'll take a slow and steady fight where I only lose 2 or 3 destroyers lol

@@GrumpyThumperGaming I think with your current builds, cautious is probably better, since you're throwing a lot more missiles at the enemy than standard dakka. You inspired me to fire up my Malcolm in the Midline save last night, and I had a blast with it! Quad-Mjolnir Conquest, SO Champion, 2 SO Eagles, 2 regular Eagles, a Falcon, a Gryphon, a Heron, a Drover, 2 SO Hammerheads, 2 Sunders, and 2 Monitors. Absolutely rips everything to shreds (to shreds, you say?)! I took it up against a fleet with 4 Executors and a bunch of cruisers and beat them up, but I'm keeping an eye out for bounties closer to what you fought for a more even comparison.

Oh it's strictly because I don't know how to pilot a Conquest, my brain just can't operate sideways mixed with an omni shield. 😅

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Ahaaa, that makes sense! Though that also means it's an opportunity for you to learn! ;) I used to be terrible with the Conquest and Odyssey, but I spent a while practicing and learned to love them. I think one of the biggest things is that you need to turn off the "turn to face pointer" option (so you can manage the omnishield with your mouse) and get used to using the Q/E keys (or equivalent) to turn your ship. I only recommend using that control style for those two ships, in fact!

​@@GrumpyThumperGaming I agree with Kurazarrh, this can be a good learning opportunity. Anyway, nice vid :)

Hmm, a short tutorial series on colonization would be good. A lot has changed since my last guide came out. In the meantime, I could try a challenge run to establish a colony within one cycle and defend it to 6.

getting fat tbh 🫃

Agreed. Personally I'm not a fan of the Paladins in general, but I especially don't think they belong on capitals.

@GrumpyThumperGaming It's one of those weapons that works better for the enemy ai than for the player.

Which smaller ships could you field it on beside the Champion anyway? only it comes to mind, since the Sunder has a hard point

@@vietdong2552 In the base game, the Sunder would be the only one I think, yes.

No, the officer personality won't affect the fighters. Cautious can be okay for carriers, but it may cause issues for your Gryphons. Cautious officers are less likely to use their missiles.

This is all vanilla. I have no advice on fleet composition for modded games. 😂

@@GrumpyThumperGaming Most of the advice apply, i stay away from super unbalance stuff. Keep the series up c:

it was an inside job -_-

Skill difference, I would simply choose to bring more Vigilances ☝️😌

se-bo

@@GrumpyThumperGaming =]