Dude, those Ventari are scary...

[steelwing]

Even with an enhanced dual TeV9 and a +fast Mk3 howitzer, the Ventari are truly nasty. My last encounter with one got Rama killed and I had to use a gem of despair to escape for repairs.
I've got a Wolfen with carbide carapace with +ionization immune. At the time of that battle, I was carrying a NAMI missile launcher with Lucifers, an enhanced dual TeV9, and a Mk3 Howitzer. I've since replaced the howitzer with a tritium cannon (currently unenhanced). My current shield is a Mammoth 50MW (350HP, +Efficient), and I've got 3 patch spiders for armor repair. Would that be a good Ventari-hunting loadout?

[steelwing]

How would you rate that same loadout against the Ares or Ranx? The star system I just entered features the first Ares and Ranx stations I've encountered...

[Atarlost]

I'd say against ventari the howitzer was the weapon you wanted. It is by far best to fight them from beyond their weapon range.

Against the Ares the tritium cannon is okay. The dual TEV is what needs replacing, preferably with a starcannon, ion blaster, xenophobe lancer, or mark V or fusionfire howitzer.

Against the Ranx the dual TEV is okay, but with the Ares so much more common it's not the weapon to keep if you can upgrade.

Carbide Carapace is on the weak side at this point. You want to look for one of the Taikon Carbides, but only when you can upgrade a full set because of the Carapace's bonus for a full set.

[Aury]

in 1.04 the ventari are getting a bit of a nerf; their device damage is nolonger permanent; device disruption will dissapear after some time. (ironically, this effectually buffs the disruptor cannon from the player's perspective, because you can disrupt an enemy ship's weapons, but still be able to have a usable item once the disruption wears off.

[andwheee]

IMO the Ventari are one of the toughest opponents you will meet, taking into account how prepared you will be when you first see them.

[Aury]

Yes; with those device damage weapons they currently have, at the level they can first appear, they tend to represent a huge difficulty spike.

[Fossaman]

My anti-ventari weapon of choice last game was a fusion-fire howitzer and a targeting ROM. Get them ticked off at you from as far away as possible, and try and keep hitting them to keep their interest. They'll walk into enough of your fire that they die eventually. Although there is a slight risk of blowing up the wreck if you don't cease fire soon enough.

The other option is to have something ridiculously buffed, like a hanzo+fast with a particle accelerator, and then ambush them as they pass near a planet or wrecked station to ensure your accuracy.

[Atarlost]

My anti-ventari weapon of choice last game was a fusion-fire howitzer and a targeting ROM. Get them ticked off at you from as far away as possible, and try and keep hitting them to keep their interest. They'll walk into enough of your fire that they die eventually. Although there is a slight risk of blowing up the wreck if you don't cease fire soon enough.

The other option is to have something ridiculously buffed, like a hanzo+fast with a particle accelerator, and then ambush them as they pass near a planet or wrecked station to ensure your accuracy.

Late game I try to have armor that laughs at device disruption, but this is very close to my early anti-Ventari strategy. Just substitute a lower level howitzer.

[steelwing]

in 1.04 the ventari are getting a bit of a nerf; their device damage is nolonger permanent; device disruption will dissapear after some time. (ironically, this effectually buffs the disruptor cannon from the player's perspective, because you can disrupt an enemy ship's weapons, but still be able to have a usable item once the disruption wears off.

That's nice to know. Is there someplace I should be looking to find out information like that?

[steelwing]

So basically what I'm hearing is:

• Ditch the TeV9 for some sort of heavier ion weapon
  Upgrade to a higher level of carapace armor (I've seen quadrocarbide armor, is there quadrocarbide carapace? That looked pretty sweet against ion damage, as I recall)
  Replace the tritium cannon with a higher level of howitzer-type weapon

My current system has a black-market shipyard as well as adventurer outfitter... Hopefully I can manage at least the ion weapon on my current credits.

[Atarlost]

There's only one carapace. You want to upgrade to a higher carbide. Quadrocarbide is the next step above carbide carapace, but carbide carapace has a special property that it becomes much weaker when mixed with other armors so if you only see 3 or fewer quadrocarbide you want to hold off on upgrading until you can get a fourth segment of it and not leave any carbide carapace.

That's only a concern with the carapace. You can mix quadrocarbide, hexcarbide, and octocarbide just fine.

Since you're in a Wolfen you have four slots that can only be used for weapons. You listed three so you can keep the tritium cannon if you like it and add a howitzer.

The tritium cannon is an okay short range weapon. What you lack is anything long range. The TEV is weak. More stuff resists particle than just about anything else. Ion is good. Few things resist ion, and the Ares are vulnerable to it. A bunch of weapons with really nice features also happen to be ion, but even a boring ion weapon is better than any particle weapon.

[Amilir]

Lies. Your dual Tev9 will be good for a while yet. It's not the weapon of choice against stronger ships, but it will destroy ranx/ares swarms much faster than low power ion weapons.

[Song]

Actually, an Ion Flame or Starcannon utterly outclasses the TeV9 weapons easily. Although personally I'm a fan of the flame cannon, since at close range it's truly awesome.

[andwheee]

in 1.04 the ventari are getting a bit of a nerf; their device damage is nolonger permanent; device disruption will dissapear after some time. (ironically, this effectually buffs the disruptor cannon from the player's perspective, because you can disrupt an enemy ship's weapons, but still be able to have a usable item once the disruption wears off.

I hope they don't get dumbed down too much, I like the challenge.

[Aury]

The only change I know of is to device damage.