Just finished this great game. Benefited lot from the forum so wanted to give back to the community in the form of some tips for new players.
1. This forum contains so much useful info, do consult it often, especially for mission tips.
2. Learn to use the rolling spiral when approaching enemy ships, especially in the tug. The i-war2.com tactics section tells you how to do this. When outnumbered try flying backwards in a spiral, drawing pursuing enemies into a small circle, they won't be able to hit you and you can pick them off with aim-assist. T-Fighters set to Fire at Will will do many kills for you if you give them longer range PBCs.
3. LDSI missiles remove ALL missiles targeting you or your critical ships within the blast radius. Aim at the nearest object and fire. This is especially important in a tug or when your countermeasures are not upgraded. Remember the blast also removes your missiles, so fire your missiles only after the LDSI blast fades away.
4. If on difficult missions, you find that your wingmen AI is messed up so they are being killed too quickly or fail to protect you, uncheck all mods and try that mission again. It made a difference for me in some escort and purge missions.
5. Rapid fire cannons like the Gatling and Assault Cannons (even the Quad Light!) are unequaled for DPS. They can even replace beams for fighting capital ships if you lack the hardpoints. BUT in escort missions you need to attract enemy aggro from a distance. Heavy PBCs and neutron PBCs work much better for drawing aggro. It made a difference for me in some escort missions.
6. My missile payloads were usually LDSI missiles and sometimes disruptors for escort missions. Disruptors are great if you need to freeze an enemy capital ship for an upfront beam attack. AOE missiles (Mining Charge, REM missile and Deathblow) do AOE blast damage and are useful in a couple of missions where you have lots of enemy capital ships and fighters close together. Skillful players can even wipe out waves of enemies using one REM missile on escort missions.
7. When fighting enemy waves, you can delay the next wave if you leave one enemy ship alive and draw its aggro without killing it. This gives you time to let a critical ship self-repair on escort missions. One enemy will not be a threat and the tactic may give you some breathing room. Another delaying tactic can be used if you need to formate with your critical ship to proceed - just delay the formate command until the critical ship self-repairs to full.
Most of the above tips came from the forum, so I can't take full credit. Hope it helps some new players, feel free to add on to this post!
Saitek X55
Unstable Space Alpha
