Overview
In my prevous guides I’ve laid out the raw ship statistics, and how to use them against the AI. With a little time and experience, you’ll find that you can get away with murder against the AI, and eventually figure out that you can make most any fleet composition work.Against players though? It’s a different story entirely. Whilst there are very few inherently “bad” ships in MP, there are most definitely bad ways to use even the best ships in the game.This guide will go over some of the basic concepts and strategies used in MP, how to use them yourself, and why.Expect this one to be wordy, with less pretty pictures.
Know your craft
I could go through an entire guide listing the pros, cons, and properly deployment methods of all the ships, squads and munitions in MP.
That being said, I’ve lost count of the amount of games I’ve watched where people are blatantly putting their own ships, their own resources, at a significant disadvantage due to not knowing what they can really do.
Open up a skirmish, throw the ships you want to use into a fleet and just start a match vs the AI. Zoom in on your ships, open up the turret menu and look where the firepower is on your ships. For example, all Battlestars have the bulk of their firepower, 8x Battlestar Artillery, focused on the top of the ship. This means that you want your Battlestars to be under your opponent whenever possible. The Janus has it’s heavy guns mounted below, and it’s medium guns pointed forward so you’ll want it above and facing towards your opponent whenever possible. Manticores have a nose mounted gun which can shoot pretty well up or down, so you can have a lot of flexibility in how you field them. Don’t throw an Arachne above a target as it has literally no bottom mounted guns… The list goes on.
You don’t need to go to the lengths I do and have every ships weapon loadout committed to memory (though it helps!), but you do need to employ a bit of common sense.
That being said, combat is unpredictable in nature and you’ll be forced out of the most optimal places to put your ships or fire your munitions as the battle unfolds. That doesn’t mean you need to walk in with an arm behind your back due to not taking the small amount of time to get to know the hardware you’re using.
Building your fleet
When building a serious fleet, there is a little check list that you should go through before committing to saving it.
This first one is seemingly obvious, but it gets overlooked a lot and it tends to apply more to Colonial fleets. Take a step back and look at the ships present in your fleet. If you’ve got a Jupiter in there, how is it going to contribute to the fight? If it’s paired up with Berzerks and Rangers, something’s going a bit wrong as those ships are so much faster than the Jupiter, and will lose a massive advantage staying at the Jupiter’s crawling pace. That being said, a Jupiter will work well being a wall for your Janus and Atlas, ships which have a similar speed and can all contribute to hitting an enemy that is inevitably going to dive under you.
Make a plan in your mind, picture how the battle is going to pan out and how your ships are going to be interacting with each other. Maybe an Artemis or Minerva would be a much better alternative to bring with your Berzerks and Rangers, as the Artemis can keep up and provide the sturdy front line / flak / firepower that you’ll be wanting from a Battlestar.
Cylon missile-dispensing fleets are most certainly a thing, and you should be ready for them. A single PCM will not be enough. Ensuring you’ve got strong flak protection, Sweeper coverage, or a large quantity of fighter coverage will go a long way to ensuring surprise missile barrages do not end you. Be mindful of torpedoes, and know that the faster ships can quite easily dodge them at range by moving up or down, or through making sharp turns if the missiles come from above.
You do not want to be skimping out on fighter coverage if your opponent decides they want to pull out a Heavy Raider focused fleet on you. Two Heavy Raiders that dock with most ships will guarantee it’s eventual destruction, if you do not have a defensive posture before they dock. Even if you do, your fleet is put at a massive disadvantage as you’re forced into a defensive posture or waste 30 power keeping the Armoury subsystem online as Cylons. Stopping the Heavy Raiders from reaching you in the first place is the best option. That being said, Heavy Raiders will not immediately cripple and destroy your ships. A fleet built for speed can simply rush down the enemy and “win the burn race” as it were whilst generally ignoring the boarders.
Either way, remember that Heavy Raiders are a thing, and keep a plan in mind as to what your fleet will do if Heavy Raiders show up. If the answer is “Get wrecked” then you should change up your fleet a bit.
This one is more of an exercise in common sense. Tightly packed formations are a bad idea in general as the collision detection is not pixel-pefect in MP and you’re liable to destroy your own ships maintaining a close profile. EMP mines however, make tightly packed fleets a VERY bad idea. PCM’s can be used to destroy EMP mines whilst they are still in flight, but you’ll need Raptors/Wardrivers to clear EMP mines or a good sense of how to move your ships without triggering them.
Generally speaking, if your fleet relies on making a literal sandwich of ships to actually work, then it’s eventually going to run into EMP mines and have a very bad time of it.
Recon
So you’ve got a basic understanding of your ships, you’ve thrown together a fleet that seems to make sense.
What next?
Well, Deadlock is a game of counters. Finding out what your enemy is using as quickly as possible is critical to starting off your battle right.
Unless you’ve built a fleet with a VERY specific goal in mind, you’ll want to know what you’re up against.
Manticore’s are the Colonials bread and butter for recon. The ship is fast, has a large DRADIS range and is effective both above and below targets due to it’s very good depression on it’s nose gun. If you’re running a very general, jack-of-all-trades style fleet, it’s definitely worth considering the 500 FP to slot in a Manticore. They’ll contribute solid damage to the fight as well, having one of the most accurate guns in the game which deal solid damage. That being said, boosting out a Manticore and then switching it to max Defensive posture without a plan is a good way to get it destroyed on turn 3. Quite a few Cylon ships match or out-range the Manticore’s DRADIS range and you’ll be very open to deployed munitions. Consider AMD options for the Manticore when sending it out, such as equipping it with a PCM or immediately attaching your fighter escort to it.
For less orthodox fleets, Manticores may not be a viable option. Your squadrons are the next best choice, with varying levels of effectiveness. Vipers can get the job done but have a small DRADIS profile of 2000m, whereas Assault Raptors and Raptors both have 4000m. Always send recon squads either very low or very high above the enemy fleet – DRADIS detection is 2D in nature, you can be half way up or down the map with your squads but the targets only need to enter the DRADIS circle around the squad to get a lock.
The Nemesis is the final word in recon. When the Tech Bay is fully powered, the Nemesis has a staggering 10300m DRADIS range. Full power to Navigation and Tech Bay is a solid way to see your enemy’s entire fleet by turn 2. Like the Manticore though, exercise care not to over-extend the Nemesis as it is relatively fragile and can still provide solid support through it’s hacking after ID’ing the enemy fleet.
Cylons do not have to rely entirely upon the Nemesis though, as even the Revenant can put out 7200m DRADIS range with a fully powered Tech Bay. Odds are, if you’re playing as a Cylon and your opponent is Colonial, you’re going to see the enemy first. Also note that you do not need to put your entire fleet on DRADIS duty – Only the closest or best DRADIS equipped ship needs to invest in powering the Tech Bay.
If you’ve really gone off the deep end, you can still do recon with your squads in the same way as Colonials. Just be mindful of the enemy’s squads and try not to get your recon squads sniped or your main fighter force jumped whilst you’re down some squads. Use some discretion when deciding how valuable the intel will be – If you’re running a missile spewing fleet then it could be worth sacrificing a Raider or two to make the locks happen or ID the juiciest targets for torpedoes. If you’re running a more ship-to-ship oriented fleet, you may want to be more conservative and preserve your squads instead. These principles apply to Colonial squad use too.
So you’ve thrown out your Manticore, ID’d the enemy fleet and you’re ready to go. What now?
Now you make a decision on how best to approach the situation based upon what fleet you have and what they are deploying against you.
For example, If you’re running a fairly standard Colonial fleet of Artemis, Berzerks and some missile support and you see a front line of Arachne, Revenants and Phobos, it will be a pretty big hint that the enemy intends to out-dive you and cut you apart from below. You can use this information to know you should rush down the enemy before they gain too much of an advantage on you.
There are many fleet compositions that you’ll be using or see your enemy using. The main point is to take a moment and do something with the information you’ve gained. Check their ships and look for nasty surprises like EMP mines, nukes, Heavy Raiders, etc. Very rarely will you want to chug on ahead doing what you were already doing.
Engaging the enemy
You know what you’re against and the shells are flying.
Time to get a grasp on what is a priority, and what isn’t.
As a general rule, you’ll want all ships you have in range focusing on the same target whenever possible. Said target should be the squishest and most dangerous ship the enemy has in range. Many ships in Deadlock which throw out a ton of damage are also lightly armoured in comparison. Berzerks are the embodiment of this, and as such are the best example of what to shoot at first when given a choice. The Berzerk throws out incredibly damage for it’s size but will be torn apart in but a single turn to any respectable amount of firepower.
That’s one less ship tearing up your fleet, and one less ship providing support for theirs.
If all of the targets you can choose from are pretty similar in durability, bring down the most deadly target first. This can vary based upon your situation, as a Jupiter can stand up to an Arachne’s onslaught pretty well, but a Phobos will start doing some seriously bad things if left around to get it’s hacking work done. On the other hand, a few Berzerks are going to want to shred the Arachne first, as you’ll be taking much more real damage from said Arachne right away.
Don’t throw your ships into the jaws of the enemy one at a time. Your opponent will happily focus down your ships one after the other without really doing much damage in return. Conversely, keep an eye on how the enemy fleet is laid out. See if you can move your ships so that a few of yours can fire on one of theirs without taking hits from the rest of their fleet. Unless you’ve got something spicy in mind, keep your ships together, and pay attention to the range you will start engaging the enemy. You can keep your ships range displayed by pressing . Be aware that Cylon ships have a comfortable range advantage over Colonial ships, and deploy your fleet to counter or take advantage of this as required.
Rare is the time that your ships are sat in the perfect position and have no need to move. Always keep your fleet in motion, it’ll help build good habits for dodging torpedoes.
Most importantly though, if you have ships that need to be under targets to deal their damage…
DO NOT FORGET TO DIVE.
This is incredibly important. In a mirror match between Colonial players that have both built Battlestar-centered fleets, a single turn where you forget to dive can quite literally throw the match. Do not shift Colonial ships into defensive or offensive posture unless there is a very real need for it, as you will cut your ability to dive. For example, the Artemis and Arachne dive at pretty much the same speed when the Artemis is at 0 posture and the Arachne is at full Navigation power. In such a fight, the Artemis will chew up the Arachne using it’s side point defence guns whilst the Arachne struggles with only it’s 2 forward mediums. Forget to dive for one turn with the Artemis? The Arachne now has 5 medium guns to bare on you and will cleanly out damage you, pulling you apart. Conversely, if the Arachne forgets a turn to dive, it’ll get shredded by the 8x BS-Arty in no time.
Using your squadrons
Your squadrons are a powerful tool, capable of swinging the match in your favour even though their fleet would curb stomp yours in a stand-up fight.
Unless you’re in the position where you need to split a squad or two for recon, you should always keep your fighters together. Always use Viper Mk 2’s or Raider Mk 1’s whenever possible, as they far outclass their free equivalents.
Do not throw your ball of fighters right into the enemy fleet and start brawling in sight of their guns. Cylon ships in particular can contribute a LOT of damage to a fighter brawl due to their high accuracy, and even Colonial guns will start shredding Raiders if they get too close, and that’s not counting flak.
Keep your fighters in front of your fleet, between yours and the enemy’s, ready to react to what the enemy may do yet still in position to help with AMD if it turns out your opponent is bringing all of the missiles today.
Check how many squadrons your opponent has compared to yours, and assume they are all fighters until you’ve managed to ID them. Cylons will need roughly a 3:2 advantage to be able to take on Colonial Vipers (Assuming Raiders to Mk 2’s), and having the fighter advantage means you can dictate the pace of the battle.
If it turns out they out number you, or have better quality of fighters, not all is lost. You can help mitigate this by luring the enemy fighters into your fleet’s gun range, or even by accepting they have the advantage and forcing their fighters into the brawl so they can’t attack your fleet or intercept your munitions.
If an experienced player sees a Heavy Raider, Wardriver, Raptor or Assault Raptor, they will usually make an active effort to ensure it is destroyed. The various support squadrons are very powerful, and if left to their own devices, will wreak havoc on the opponent’s fleet. With this in mind, be smart about how you deploy your own support squadrons. Throwing your Heavy Raiders right at the enemy is the quickest way to lose them as experienced players will simply pick them out of the crowd and snipe them, regardless of the damage their fighters take in the process.
Sending them up high or down low whilst your own fighters tie up theirs will greatly increase the chances they make it to their targets. You can also choose to hold the squads in reserve, and wait for the fighter brawl to end before deploying them.
Missiles, missiles, missiles
There’s an art to having 3 Argos throw 198 torpedoes at your enemy in a single round.
Likewise, you don’t need to throw out PCM’s at every sniff of enemy ordnance.
Not every munition is ideal for every ship. Whilst guided missiles are a strong and cost-efficient all-rounder, you’ll want to consider the right tool for the job.
Battlestars for example, are usually a fairly poor platform for direct-damage munitions due to their flak preventing them from firing munitions at the enemy whilst it’s up. Don’t be that guy who puts a nuke on their Artemis, and promptly fires it into their own flak.
Alternatively things like PCM’s would be a good fit as the Battlestar can provide it’s solid wall of AMD and have a secondary source to throw out to help the Janus above it which is not protected by the flak, for example.
There’s loads of examples, but the best thing to do is choose munitions with a purpose in mind. I want one of my Janus to crack hard targets, so I want it stocking up on Armour Piercing missiles to guarantee I can strip armour off the targets that matter.
Don’t just throw missiles directly at the enemy. Well, unless they have precisely zero AMD, in which case feel free to utterly abuse their lack of foresight.
Seriously though, check what AMD they have before firing. Don’t let loose 3 salvoes from a Janus right at the broadside of a Battlestar – Get an angle around the flak before firing, or find a target not under said cover. Don’t throw out PCM’s for a single guided missile salvo when you’ve seen one of their ships is holding an EMP mine or a nuke.
An important note with torpedoes though, is that the only thing you’re hitting at max range is a Basestar. Even a Jupiter is going to duck a max range torpedo salvo. Either wait until you close the distance, or consider firing from two different angles so the target is forced into eating one salvo or the other.
When using mines offensively, ensure you lead the enemy fleet instead of throwing it directly at them, and take into account if they are diving or not. Even if they see it coming, it’ll force them into turning off or even better, not diving for a turn so you can get an advantage.
Wrapping up
Hopefully some of what I’ve blurted across these pages will prove useful to those looking to help themselves with Deadlock’s MP, or perhaps looking to get into it at all.
As a game of hard counters, sometimes you can be unlucky and your opponent simply has the hard counter to your fleet. Sometimes ♥♥♥♥ just happens, don’t be dismayed through taking losses, just make sure you learn why you lost and take the lessons moving forward.
If anybody has anything they’d like to see added to this guide, changed, shaken up, etc, feel free to leave a comment as I appreciate any and all feedback.
I could also put together a guide to assess each ship and munition in MP as well, if that were something the community would like to have.
I look forward to catching you guys in the field!