Slave Combat

Using Slaves efficiently can be very difficult and expensive but also very rewarding. The most powerful slavemaster class by far is Radiation Expert because unlike Seer or Drone Mastery, Radiation Experts get 3% additional slave stats along with 2% from the Slave Mastery class. However Seer gets a very handy Zerker bonus and Drone Mastery can rely on their Drones as well.

The 2 Methods of Slave Combat

There are 2 ways in which you can create a team of powerful combat slaves and use them effectively in high level Dungeon Galaxies and uber zones. One way to to have many lower tech slaves, the other is to have fewer higher tech ones. Each method has advantages and disadvantages.

Having more lower tech slaves means you can have more slaves doing damage but also means only lower tech augs can be used. While this method might produce more damage collectively, the slaves on their own will be comparatively weaker and if aggro switches to you slave it will die faster. This method is recommended for those who want high dps slaves and a more defensive setup on their main ship. In this instance, having 3 or more Mzungu Liquid slaves can be very damaging while the player could pilot a Pax augged to tank.

Alternatively, fewer higher tech slaves can be used. This means you can use higher tech augs and create a more balanced setup. The slaves will not provide as much dps but they will be able to tank more damage and generally have more hull for higher tech and larger gear. This also means the player can use a more balanced ship. Depending on the RC level, using 2 Wardens slaves or 2 Porp+ slaves while piloting an Izer can provide a better solo setup.

Free to Play tactics

Two methods that seem to work well are:

1. Placing drones and using x - "mark as enemy" to have them start the combat, even if you're only using one tech 1 drone it still gives a decent diversion. This works best if you keep up a higher dps than your individual slaves so the AI targets you when the drone dies, then stop firing, allowing your slaves to deal damage till it switches targets.

2. You can cycle most AI from slave to slave tanking with every single slave this is however almost impossible to do (figure it out yourself or you'll never be able to do it reliably) and rather risky as it drops your total dps and your slave (or you) will probably die if you mess up.

Both are delay tactics so they work best with the high dps t2 fleet build, but the switchoff is drastically easier with the quality build. You can do the slave switch following the drone delay or even use drones later in a long fight as a step in the switching cycle.

Augging Setups

Depending on the combat style effects what augs you'll need. I can only offer suggestions on how to aug higher tech slaves and player ships as I haven't tried using lower tech ones. When augging your slaves remember the following things:

1. Slave rate of fire is capped at approx 0.8 secs, so try to boost damage more than rate of firing. Athena augs are much better than Ares. 2. You can't use fueled energies without considerable risk. So aug you slaves to have high shield bank and not regen. Again Athena augs are nice for this. 3. Your slaves will need agility, as slaves aren't smart enough to dodge. Having at least on Ares aug or other turning increasing aug helps a lot.

So possible setups include:

• Ares, Athena, Athena
• Ares, Athena, Good Combi
• Exc, Athena, Athena
• Exc, Exc, Athena (more of a w20 setup)

When you come to augging you own ship there are also some things you need to consider. Remember that a Radiation Expert cannot dodge like a SD or tank like a Zerker so a Radiation Expert will need a few decent shield boosting augs. Seers on the other hand have the Zerker skill so you may consider boosting that or augging for more speed. As I am a Radiation Expert I can only offer advice on how to aug such ships:

• Equanimizer
  • Exc, Exc, Sup
  • Sup, Sup, Exc
  • Sup, RadEx Exp, PtE
• Death Striker
  • Sup, Sup, Sup, Slavemaster/Exc
  • Sup, Sup, Slavemaster/Exc, Caly

Gearing the slaves

The gear used for slaves is very different compared to player gear. Also depending on your combat method you will need to use different gear. Having lower tech slaves will mean you have to use lighter gear so you slaves can dodge more attacks. Higher tech slaves can use heavier gear which provided more shield/energy/damage etc but means ur slaves will need to tank. Here is a list of gear you slaves should have if they are to survive in w3:

Weaponry

You will need at least on laser type weapon, preferably etheral and/or with a lot of tracking. Example include:

• Venusian Ray
• Open Heart Laser
• Armageddon Laser

If you have higher tech slaves with more hull should also use a pulse type weapon, or other high dps medium range projectile weapon. Examples include:

• Rackham's Bigger Pulse
• Death Warmed Over
• Titan Pulse Gun+

It is also helpful to have an Excommunicator on your slaves for Picks, Forgones and other AI with mining weaknesses.

Shielding

For higher tech slaves use a Shield with a large bank so if the slave gets the enemies' aggro it will be able to tank some damage until you spread the aggro evenly or take it off the slave again. Example include:

• Undershirt
• Anaconda Protoarmor
• Give and Take

Energies

High regen energies are essential but also look for a reasonable bank. Acceptable energies of this type include:

• Yallow
• Obsidian Ionizer
• Titan Energy+

Engine

For faster slaves try to pick an engine with a lot of thrust so they can stop and start quickly. Examples include:

• Fission Thrust
• Bule Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

For heavier, slower slaves pick and engine with more turning, such as:

• Mzungu Flying Contrast
• Fission Thrust

Items

The following items are essential for you slaves, and whereas some may seem obvious, you'd be surprised how often they can be forgotten:

• Overloader Stable 5 (Since the RoF is capped, this Overloader is perfect.)
• Slave Stasis Generator
• Gear Glue, lots of it
• Shield Capacitor (Liberty Shield Cap IV is perfect for smaller slaves, use V or VI for larger ones.)

Combat Techniques

Slavemaser Combat is very different to Sniper or Speed Demon combat for example. Having only experienced Radiation Expert combat I can only comment on that. You must remember to keep the enemies' aggro or spread the aggro evenly because if the slaves are augged for a big shield bank but low regen they will not survive constant attack. If you die, or one of you slaves dies it is likely that everyone else will also. A balance is essential. There are a few techniques you can use to ensure your survival in battle:

1. Keep the enemies aggro and dodge the enemies' attacks while your slaves do the damage. Circling the enemy at close range forces it to use it's pulses which are easily avoidable while keeping the enemy in position, making it an easy target for you slaves. 2. Grab the enemies' aggro and fly out with an OBA and let your slaves do the damage while the AI try and catch up with you. This only works if your slaves are faster than the AI and you keep aggro long enough for the slaves to make the kill.

...More on this to come...

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