Hi folks,
Finally got my Mk II into a combat zone. Figured I'd share with any other noob AX pilots out there my experience…
Me: Elite rank PvE combat, so experience with human PvE but zero experience with AX.
Ship: Slightly off meta Krait Mk II. xeno scanner, shutdown field neutralizer, 4xguardian gauss, 1xthermal vent long range gimballed beam, shieldless build.
I had originally procured four modified shard cannons and four guardian gauss, was thinking it'd be too hard to hit the scouts with the gauss. I found that a) I actually could hit the scouts with the gauss as long as I was careful, and b) the gimballed size 3 beam laser was surprisingly effective at damaging scouts. So wasn't as bad as I thought – to the point that I left the gauss on there, and haven't gone back for the shards.
I think I'm going to remove the shutdown field neutralizer – I've not yet ever been able to actually use the damn thing, and seems like a wasted slot for me (edit: as I type this, I realize I've been hitting the wrong button – I keybound it to a different key than what I thought I did. 'DOH! Well, still, might get rid of it!). Fortunately, the build runs cold, and I've been able to either drop a heat sink or get a little distance, and the several times I've been shut down have not resulted in any rebuys. (Note that this was in a station defense area, where I had friendly NPCs around to help draw attention away from me. No doubt it'd be much different if I was on my own!)
Interceptor fights are tough, but doable. I've found it best to take advantage of the NPCs – I'll note an interceptor has an exposed heart, come by and snipe it, then go kill a scout of two while the NPC's occupy the interceptor until his shield goes down again. Keep coming back to him until I kill him.
I've got repair limpets and AFMU on board, but I have not yet needed to use them – the station is right there, and I plan on fighting mostly around station defense missions. So those will probably go to a few more HRP/MRPs.
Overall, I found my survivability with 3300 hull and no shields to be suprisingly good. I'm generally able to get a decent amount of kills before having to duck back into the station.
So, yeah, if there are any PvE pilots out there waiting to take the plunge – come on in, you'll do fine! So far, after an hour or two of fighting, I've got several interceptor kills, 50 or so scouts, and about 44 mil in combat bonds. (Yes, the money's not great, but it is fun!) Oh, and no rebuys – yet!
(I should also note that I'm sure I haven't seen any really tough interceptors yet – I haven't scanned them, so I'm not sure, but I would imagine part of my success has been because these are lower level bad guys…)
