Space Combat [Ace/Top Ace/Supreme Ace] (kd/cm/cn)

Points	:	5 + 15 + 30 = 50 total
Other rewards	:	adornment, lots of experience
Authors	:	Cruzer, Dcruze, Sundarin
Last change	:	Updated guide.
Last modified	:	25/04/2022

Storyline
Walkthrough
Tips and Tricks (by Cruzer)
More on Space Combat (by Sundarin)

Storyline

	
Footage from early in the Clone Wars forms before you.

The image is of a young fighter pilot dismounting his spacecraft.  He is tall
and athletic, you think it possible that he literally stepped off of a 
recruiting poster.  

The call-sign 'Scythe' is stencilled on his bulky helmet.  As he removes it, 
you notice his eyes.  They are steel gray, unflinching, calculating, intense 
and fearless.  His black hair is matted with sweat, and an arrogant smile 
splits his face.  

"That's 100!" he boasts. "Those droid fighters can't touch me!"

A senator steps into view, tall and beautiful with flowing red hair.

"Lieutenant," she says with pride radiating in her voice, "to honor your 
unparalleled skill, the Senate has created a new title.  I have the distinct 
privilege of granting you the formal title of 'Top Ace of the Republic'.  From 
now on, the Senate will grant every pilot who reaches 100 kills with this same 
title."

"Well thank you Ma'am," replies the pilot flirtatiously, "it's about the Senate
noticed my 'unparalleled skills'."


Footage from early in the Clone Wars forms before you.

The image is of a tall and attractive woman, with flowing red hair, standing
in front of a podium.  Her robes reveal her as a Senator of the Old Republic.  
You can read in her face that she is struggling to display no emotions, yet 
a small tear forming in her green eyes reveals her sadness.

"Today I have the honor of awarding a new title, granted by the Senate, to 
recognize this great pilot.  For achieving 500 kills in this war, I grant
him and all who follow, the title of 'Supreme Ace'."

She displays a small round medallion.  It has the logo of the Old Republic
imprinted upon it.  The number 500 at the top, and the words 'Supreme Ace'
emblazoned along the bottom.

She leans forward to place the medallion inside the coffin.  The tear breaks 
free, falling upon a helmet with the call-sign 'Scythe' stencilled above the 
visor.

She whispers, "May there never again be a war that costs so much."

Walkthrough

Space combat can seem daunting and impenetrable, but you don't have to become an expert before you can begin to rake in the kills (and MP!). To complete this set of missions you will need to get 500 space combat kills. This will take a long time to accomplish, but fortunately it is pretty easy to set up triggers to assist you while playing.

First you need a combat ship, you can get one from the ship dispenser in the Hangar on KoBra space station or from your Guild headquarters. The highly maneuverable R-41 'Starchaser' is a good choice, since it will have the enemy in visible sight more often - which means more hits. It doesn't have projectiles, but we're not going to use them anyways. When you're inside a combat ship, you can use the <hjump> command to hyperspace into your system of choice.

There are several strategies for finding enemy ships to fight:

Ships spawn in the Alderaan, Asylum, Ladriz, Triton, and Zone solars and will replenish themselves every 15 to 20 minutes, provided you're not a supreme ace yet - if you are, the spawn time is longer...
You can also attack capital ships or the Death Star and they will release waves of fighters for you to attack.
Imperial players should take the fight to either Alderaan or Ladriz, and Alliance players should go to Triton or Zone. For other guilds, it doesn't really matter.

In the triggers described below, they're set up to fight the X-wing fighters in Ladriz with the callsign "shadow". If you take your fight elsewhere, you need to change your set-up to the callsigns you see when you use the <radar> command.

You will need a mud client that can react to triggers, and set it up with the following aliases, triggers and timers:

#	Trigger (Alias/Timer):	Send:
0	This is an alias.	throttle full, target shadow-4, fm attack, cannon, fm evade
1	Battle computer: Cannons have cooled.	derear, fm attack, cannon, fm evade
2	Battle computer: Target is out of cannon range.	face
3	Battle computer: Target is not in visual sight.	face
4	Battle computer: Energy reserves depleted. Unable to fire.	defront, derear, fm attack, cannon, fm evade
5	Battle computer: * has been destroyed.	target shadow-1, target shadow-2, target shadow-3, target shadow-4, derear, fm attack, cannon, fm evade
6	Flight computer: The ship completes its turn.	derear, fm attack, cannon, fm evade
7	Battle computer: Cannon what?	throttle 0
8	This is a timer.	throttle full, target shadow-1, target shadow-2, target shadow-3, target shadow-4, fm attack, cannon, fm evade

You send this alias when you first arrive in the Ladriz system. It will set your flight mode to attack, throttle to full (as fast as you can go without using extra energy) and will start attacking Shadow-4 with your laser cannon.
After the cannons have cooled, you will see this message. The <derear> command will uncharge your shields a bit in the case that your generator has low power, enabling you to fire your cannons again. Since there is no delay when using the flight mode commands, we can quickly switch to attack mode, use our cannons, and then switch back to evade mode.
The target may be out of range when they respawn after you have killed them all. This trigger will make you face Shadow-4 and start moving towards it. The throttle has already been set to full by your timer (#8), and when the timer fires again you will be in range and start attacking.
The targets will move around constantly when you're fighting, so they could be out of visible range when you attempt to fire your cannons at them. This trigger will make you turn your ship so you'll face them again. There are alternatives you could explore instead of using the <face> command, they are described in the "Tips & Tricks" section below.
It is debatable if you're even going to need this trigger, it will attempt to decharge both your front and rear shields so you'll get power to fire your cannons.
When a ship gets destroyed, you need to pick another target. Here we just brute-force target all the four possible targets before firing. An alternative is using the <autotarg> command, but that can be dangerous, since capital ships can hyperjump into your current system, and you don't want to accidentally end up targeting them. Note that the * denotes a wildcard in your trigger, you need to learn how your client deals with them, or you can just trigger on "has been destroyed." at the end of a line.
When your ship has completed its turn after a <face> command, it is time to fire at your target again.
This occurs after you fire the timer below when there are no targets left in the system. We set our throttle to 0 and keep waiting for the ships to respawn.
Set this up as a timer (MUSHclient) or a WAIT command (zMUD/CMUD). Execute it every 60 seconds so you don't waste too much time. Eventually the ships will respawn, and you'll start fighting again.

You may get bad RNG and get your ship destroyed, but that's very rare. If it becomes a problem, try fighting the Z-95s on Alderaan instead, since they are quite a bit easier - this will also improve your kills per hour, but you'll get less experience.

With this set-up, you could get around 12-16 kills per hour. It is fairly simple, but it will get the job done - however, it is only scratching the surface of what can be done with space combat... You can improve your kill count if you move to another solar after destroying all the ships in one.

Skills and Attributes

You may want to work on improving your skills and attributes specifically for doing space combat:

Piloting is always important.
For going on the attack, improve DEX and blaster.
For evading damage, improve TEC and dodge.

Ship Schematics

The following table may help you decide on which ship to use:

Ship	Max speed	Maneuver	Hull	Shields	Generator	Gen Recharge	Lasers	Ions	Projectiles	Combat Value	Max Load	Availability
A-Wing	360	200	160	25/25	1512	10	Yes	No	Missile	9933	12	AL
B-Wing	180	58	400	60/40	4036	19	Yes	Yes	Torpedo	13902	12	AL
X-Wing	258	150	240	24/24	3744	21	Yes	No	Torpedo	10475	6	AL
Y-Wing	210	100	352	40/24	2752	18	Yes	Yes	Torpedo	11984	10	AL
Z-95	210	50	200	20/15	1472	7	Yes	No	Missile	6814	6	AL
TIE Advanced	450	250	210	32/28	5332	14	Yes	No	Missile	11966	16	IMP
TIE Bomber	240	67	310	0/0	1248	20	Yes	No	Torpedo	6914	6	IMP
TIE Interceptor	330	167	210	0/0	3072	48	Yes	No	Missile	8583	6	IMP
TIE Fighter	300	160	150	0/0	1600	25	Yes	No	No	6300	-	IMP
T-Wing	385	200	140	25/20	1256	16	Yes	No	Missile	8781	4	BH/NE/SMG
R-41 'Starchaser'	300	150	190	50/50	1424	14	Yes	Yes	No	11618	-	BH/NE/SMG
YT-1300 Transport	120	30	1100	55/50	2816	16	Yes	No	Missile	20200	12	BH/NE/SMG
YT-2400 Transport	180	40	1150	37/37	2752	18	Yes	No	Missile	19706	16	BH/NE/SMG
Firespray	243	117	525	25/25	1952	15	Yes	Yes	Torpedo	13669	2	BH/NE/SMG
Conqueror	210	100	240	50/50	1928	16	Yes	Yes	Torpedo	11881	4	BH/NE/SMG
Pursuer	240	58	260	30/20	1504	7	Yes	Yes	No	9107	-	BH/NE/SMG
Ghtroc Transport	144	30	420	50/40	1248	20	Yes	No	No	13293	-	BH/NE/SMG
StarViper	311	125	500	25/25	2816	16	Yes	Yes	Missile	13769	6	BH

Tips and Tricks (by Cruzer)

1. Flight modes and useful situations

Flight modes are ways to change the general characteristics of how your ship flies. Each mode has different attack and defense ratings, indicating what percentage of your attention is given to each. There is also a speed rating, which indicates how much of your actual speed is devoted to moving along your vector, as opposed to jinking, zigzagging, and other defensive moves.

(mode - attack/defense/speed)

<fm attack> - 85/15/70

This offers your best chance to hit your enemies, but you're going to take a beating in the process. Not the choice for newbie pilots, or those with low skills.

<fm engage> - 55/45/60

This is a well-balanced mode. Great for newbie pilots and those with medium skills. Not for fighting fast, agile ships like the A-wing or TIE advanced.

<fm roll> - 50/50/90

This is perfect for newbie pilots and those with low-medium skills. Good for fighting fast, agile ships, and chasing fleeing ships as well.

<fm loop> - 40/60/20

This is pointless. I have yet to find a situation that was not handled better by another mode.

<fm cruise> - 35/65/100

This is useful for chasing down fleeing ships. Just remember to switch back to another mode once you are in firing range.

<fm evade> - 15/85/40

This is really helpful when you're trying not to get hit. Switch to this mode before you begin a <hjump> out of active combat.

2. Throttle

This is really a preference. Flying around will help you avoid damage, but also shortens the time between 'target not in visual sight'. Only experienced pilots with good skills should choose to sit still.

<throttle full>

This sets your speed as high as it can go without having to draw energy from the generator. This is normally what you would use if you choose to fly around.

<throttle max>

This sets your speed as high as it can go, drawing energy from the generator to supply the extra power. This is only useful when chasing fast ships that are fleeing.

<mspeed>

This is useful for maximizing time between 'target not in visual sight' while still flying around at a decent speed. If you don't have a ship targeted, you will have to supply the name of the ship you wish to match speed with.

3. Keeping your target in visual sight

If an enemy gets behind you, you won't be able to shoot them. There are a few ways to handle this when it happens.

<pursue>

This will automatically and constantly adjust your vector in an attempt to keep your ship facing what you are pursuing. This is only suggested in *very* agile ships, and still not recommended.

<face>

This will automatically adjust your vector in an attempt to put your target directly in front of you. It's like pursue, but is one-time-use only. You'll have to face again when they move. Again, not recommended.

<reverse>

This will turn your ship around 180 degrees. In very agile ships like the a-wing and TIE advanced, this is just as fast as manual vectoring and you don't have to worry about what your vector is. Very few ships can reverse as fast as they can with manual vectoring, so experiment with both, and use whichever one is faster.

Manual vectoring

This is usually the way to go when you need to turn your ship. Don't be daunted by the idea. You really only need to remember 2 of them: <vector 1 1 1> and <vector -1 -1 -1>. They are exact opposites, so if you can't shoot your target, switch to the other vector, and you can.

4. Shield and Power Management

Obviously, during combat, you're going to use energy, and your shields will get damaged. Here are the commands and tactics to help you overcome the challenge.

<damage>

This will show you the ships health, in percentages. You should check damage regularly, if not after each hit.

<chfront> and <chrear>

These will transfer available power from the generator to the front or rear shield to repair any damage.

<defront> and <derear>

These will drain power from the front or rear shield, and transfer it to the generator. You should *always* charge the opposing shield first to use up all power in the generator first, since the shield drain will be the same regardless of how much power is in the generator.

<chshift>

Once you've done SC for awhile, you'll notice that your style of fighting may tend to be harder on one shield. If this is the case, you may wish to chshift front or rear to help compensate. What this does is charge the chosen shield to max before any charge of the other shield is attempted. You can always <chshift even> to return to recharging the shields based on which is more damaged.

5. Capital ship combat

You won't be satisfied with Asylum YT-1300s, Alderaan Defenders, Ladriz X-wings and Zone TIEs for very long. This means you'll start annoying the capital ships. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you out.

Capital Ships

Don't get too close to capitals. They have much more powerful weapons and will destroy you in only a few shots. As a safety measure, don't get closer than 2500-3000. Most, but not all, will not fire on you at this range.

Fighter Waves

Once you hit a capital ship, it will release a wave of fighters. So, shoot it once, wait a couple of seconds, then deal with the fighters first. If a capital doesn't release a fighter wave, then you are clear to start working on the capital. Save any missiles and torpedoes for the capital, don't waste them on fighters. It's also a good idea to let your shields and generator recharge between waves.

Group Combat

On almost every capital ship, a single pilot can't deal out enough damage to overcome the capitals shield regeneration, so you'll need a friend. Make certain that you and your friend(s) are shooting at the same shield, or you won't get far fast.

<squawk>

This is a little known command that lets you set your iff code. So, if your friend(s) are there for the fighters, everybody should set their iff code to the same number. What this will do is allow you to autotarg for fighters without worrying about accidentally shooting your friend(s). This is only good for the ship you are in, so you'll have to reset it if you have to get a new ship.

More on Space Combat (by Sundarin)

While the space combat section has all good advice which will definitely get you the 500 kills you need for the missions, I have a different approach to space combat.

I will first tell you how I play and then add some observations.

As I play an Imperial character I usually fly a TIE Advanced, one of the best ships in the game. I do not use triggers, except for highlighting as I feel that takes the fun out of it. I use Mudlet and have set up the following keys:

F9	chfront derear
F12	chrear dfront
numeric 7	face
numeric 8	fm attack cannon fm evade
numeric 9	report
numeric 4	throttle 0
numeric 5	throttle full
numeric 6	radar
numeric 1	lock
numeric 2	fire
numeric 3	autotarg

I don't like manual vectoring. As far as I can tell, despite what the main article says, <face> is just as fast and manual vectoring won't always position your ship properly to lock missiles.

Space combat is about energy management. Keep an eye on your energy and shield levels. In my opinion it is more important to have energy in your storage than having your shields at full strength. I advise to keep a large buffer in your energy storage so your ship can use this to recharge your shields when you get hit. I try to keep at least 2,000 in the energy storage in my TIE Advanced. Note that manual recharging is faster, but more expensive.

As an Imperial player, I tend to go after the alliance capitals. The Fortitude in the Apok Darr system is the most straightforward.

I will get a TIE advanced from the Fist or the Imperatrix and <hjump> to Apok. As these ships aren't always in the same system I might need two jumps, so carry a canister or <hjump> to Hoth or Asylum first and refuel on the Avenger or the Oppressor there. Note that the Avenger won't show up on your radar, but it orbits Hoth so the <planet> command should give you an idea where it is. <face avenger> will turn your ship the right way, so that's useful, but won't tell you how far you have to fly.

In the Apok system use <radar> to see how far away you are from the Fortitude. You don't want to be too close (>3000) or the Fortitude's lasers will blast you. About 5,900 is a nice distance, but I usually end up closer. So <face fortitude>, wait till the ship is turned, <reverse> and fly until you are at a comfortably distance. Then <throttle 0>, <autotarg>, <face>, wait till the ship is turned, <cannon>. When you hit the Fortitude four Z-95 will come out. Stop shooting at the Fortitude once you've hit it, or it will launch the next wave of fighters as well. Manually target a Z-95, as they usually fly in the opposite direction at first. Don't move your ship as you might end up too close to the Fortitude. Use your missiles and your cannon to destroy the Z-95's. Keep using <face> to keep facing your target. Then target the Fortitude again and hit it with your cannon to release the next wave, which consists of three Y-wings and two X-wings. Sometimes I return to base to get more missiles in between waves. There are five waves in total. After that you could try to blast the Fortitude out of the sky, but this seems to be impossible for a single ship. I have never been able to make a dent in its energy reserves before the fighters started resetting.

Missile use.

Missiles are more powerful then lasers, so you can destroy the enemy ships a lot quicker if you use them. When you have targeted a ship you can <lock> to start locking you targetting system. You might get a message that the target is outside locking parameters. <face> and when your ship has finished turning, try again. Keep using <face> while your system is trying to lock, as you need to be facing your target when the locking period ends. Once you're locked <fire> will fire a missile. Keep an eye on the distance to your target, as you can lock and fire when the target is closer then 8,000, but the target will outdistance your missile when they are further away then 7,000. Contrary to most other ships, a TIE Advanced will be able to launch a second missile before the targeting lock is lost, but there is a short recycling period before you can do so.

There are two commands that will show you how much missiles you have left. <spec launcher> will show you how much missiles are left on your ship. <stock> will tell you the sum of the number of missiles on your ship and the number of missiles that are available in your HQ, as well as when the missiles on the HQ will be replenished.

Torpedoes

They work basically the same as missiles, but they usually miss. However they do a lot more damage. The chance to hit might be higher when you're closer to your target. Also, my projectile skill is only 70, so this might be a bit different when yours is 130. In my experience, on average torpedoes do a lot less damage than missiles per shot.

Ion cannons

I don't see how these are actual useful, given their short range and the fact they won't do their special damage until the target's shields are gone.

Some notes on commands

<pursue>: I experimented with this for a while, but found keeping hitting the <face> key works a lot better. However, should you use the triggers from the main article, pursue might help you to automate the procedure.

<proximity on>: This will give the distance to your target and their facing to you every other heartbeat. Note that it sometimes won't start doing this until you or your target move. Knowing your target's facing is especially important when you're about to attack enemy capital ships (Stargazer, Independence, Night Caller) that have a larger range than you. When they are facing away from you, they can't shoot you!

<flee>: I sometimes use this to quickly get away from capital ships.

Player ships

The chart in the main article does not show some important differences between the combat ships. What is missing is laser damage, laser cooldown time and projectile damage, as they can all differ.

Ship	Laser Damage	Cooldown Time	Power Drain	Torpedo Damage	Missile Damage
Gunboat	40	6	160	540	-
TIE interceptor	36	8	384	-	175
TIE bomber	18	6	156	540	-
TIE advanced	32	7	344	-	205
R-41	40	6	160	-	-
YT-1300	40	5	376	-	190
Firespray	70	4	160	400	-
Pursuer	60	6	160	-	-

As you can see from the table, the Firespray has by far the most powerful lasers.

Attacking capitals

Stargazer

The medical modfrigate Stargazer is found in the Panto system. This one is doable for a single fighter, but is a bit tricky. For starters the Stargazer's guns have a long range. After checking the Stargazer is facing away from me with <proximity on> I initiate combat by firing a missile and flying away quickly. I fly about 25,000 distance away from the Stargazer, or as far as the fighters will follow me. Whenever you destroy a fighter one to three new ones will appear in the system. When you're close the Stargazer it is easy to get overwhelmed by the fighters, hence the large distance. Once you've destroyed about twelve fighters, that's it and you can go after the Stargazer itself. I never had the Stargazer shoot at me at this point, so I can just use my cannon from up close. It is worth getting a Firespray from KoBra Space Station to speed up the process. Allegedly you don't get guild point when you're not flying in a guild ship, so Imperial players might want to change back to a TIE advanced or a gunboat for the last few hits. It takes me about 15 minutes to destroy the Stargazer in a Firespray and about half an hour in a TIE Advanced.

Sometimes the Independence is in the Panto system and will send some fighters to help out the Stargazer. As long as you leave the Independence alone, it won't fire at you.

Independence

Before firing at the Independence make sure that 1) it is facing away from you by using the <proximity on> command and 2) the Night Caller isn't around. Every time I attacked the Independence while it faced me, I was shot down by the Independence, sometimes further then 9,000 away. After shooting it, quickly fly away because the Independence will turn to face you and call in the Night Caller for help! About 14,000 is definitely a safe distance. The Independence launches an A-wing, an X-wing and a Y-wing, who will usually come at you in this order at this distance. I haven't seen anything else come out of the Independence, but maybe the wave reset while I was waiting for the Night Caller to leave again.

There is an event where the Imperials will launch an attack on the Independence with several different TIE fighters. As far as I can tell, you need at least two alliance players and one Imperial player online for it to fire. When I show up, the Independence and the Night Caller still tend to go for my ship, so these TIE fighters are not much help.

Night Caller

If you catch the Night Caller on its own, its lasers appear to have a range of 6,000, so you can safely shoot missiles and torpedoes. However, that won't be enough to damage it. It takes the Night Caller about two hits to destroy a TIE Advanced, so going in close to use your cannon is not really an option for a single attacker.

Neteru

The Bounty Hunters HQ can be found in one of the following systems: Baku, Bathos, Prometheus, Plymouth, Panto and Ladriz. This is also the order in which I check the systems, as in this order you don't need to double jump to get to the next system. The Neteru has some short range weaponry, but its main defence is the dreadnought Wargasm, which orbits it. When you attack, the Wargasm will periodically fire at you. I'm not completely sure what its maximum range is, but it is somewhere between 10,000 and 14,000. It's about five shots every time and it is advised to recharge your shield after every hit. The chance of getting hit seems to go down when you're further away.

So far I've seen five fighter waves coming out of the Neteru. The first wave consists of ten thistle mines. When you keep to your position they are no threat as their weapons are only short range and they don't move. The second wave is three Firesprays. They do a lot of damage with their lasers and fire missiles as well. Flying away is not really an option as the range of the lasers is more than 10,000. In my experience, this wave is the hardest. The third wave is four R-41's. They don't seem to have the ridiculous range of the Firesprays, so flying out of range of the Wargasm to deal with the R-41s is an option here. The fourth wave is five T-wings and the fifth is as well. These have a long range again. I've once been able to take out all the fighters, which took me almost three hours, but I didn't have enough time after that to try to finish the job.