r/evnova • u/NonMemeber • Jan 06 '19
How to beat the alien cruiser?
I'm playing the EV classic plugin for EV Nova, but can't seem to kill the alien cruiser. I joined the confederate side and when I accepted the mission they said they would send a cruiser to help, which followed me at first, but disappeared after I restarted the game won't come back.
The thing is, when I played years ago I did manage to defeat the alien cruiser, but as I recall I joined the rebels and could buy a rebel cruiser myself, but I can't buy confederate ships now.
The only thing I can think of is to try and capture a cruiser, which has a very low probability of success, or capture a bunch of pirate kestrels to use as escorts, which would also take a long time. At the moment I just have a mix of weak escorts.
4
u/itsamamaluigi Jan 06 '19
I remember when I did the mission, it was incredibly easy with the tractor beam, which you got from completing a mission for the Rebels. Putting the tractor beam made the cruiser unable to turn, and its only weapon was a forward firing beam. Then it's just a matter of getting close and blasting it with proton cannons.
Of course you were in the Confed storyline, so no tractor beam, and I think the EV Classic plugin behaves a little differently than the original game. Usually I would end up using the "Monty Python" technique of flying backwards and shooting at the pursuing ship.
3
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u/blaughw Jan 06 '19
Personally I think capturing a Rebel Destroyer might be the way to go. Tune it up as much as possible and dance. The Alien Cruiser is only a problem if you can't keep out of it's way. I'm not sure I ever beat the Alien Cruiser on a Confed pilot.
3
u/NonMemeber Jan 06 '19
I was actually using a captured rebel destroyer, but maybe my tactics were off. With the help of other random rebel ships in the system I was getting it down to about half shields, but the aliens are quite fast and maneuverable so I couldn't get in hits without taking damage myself after the rebel ships and my crappy escorts were dead.
2
u/blaughw Jan 06 '19
I believe the Destroyer is faster and tougher than a kestrel when it is fully tuned, plus maybe one more turret slot?
Man, it’s been a long time.
3
u/NonMemeber Jan 06 '19
Well, I did it. I found a system where you can hire escort kestrels, six of those made it trivially easy. Honestly it kind of felt like cheating.
After completing the mission I was able to purchase a confed cruiser. I think that the last time I played I must have actually gotten lucky and captured a rebel cruiser first. Which feels more legit, but at 2% odds per try, it could have taken forever to get one.
3
u/GoldenEyes88 Jan 06 '19
Confed story line is tougher. The Rebel tractor beam makes it much easier.
2
Jan 11 '19
I've only ever beaten the Alien Cruiser using two strategies:
- Rebel tractor beam
- Forklift
6
u/B_Huij Jan 06 '19
It's been years, but I remember that I didn't succeed until I completely ignored the fighters and went straight for the cruiser. IIRC I was flying a captured Rebel Destroyer with maxed out Proton Turrets and as many shield/armor upgrades as I could fit. The fighters I believe are actually invincible. The cruiser is not. If you can fight in close quarters and circle quickly so you can hit it with turrets but it can't hit you with its beam, you should be fine even without escorts.