Counters for Corvette / Bomber swarms (MP)

As mainly a tec player in the rebellion beta I find myself struggling against corvette / bomber swarms (especially against Advent players).

The only feasible tactic i've found so far is to kite the corvettes / bombers away from my fleet using my capital ship (which they are usually trying to focus down) and hope that my LRFs / HCs can DPS down their capital before i lose mine.

Spamming flak frigs dosent seem to work as both bombers and corvettes seem to be resistant to their dmg and it just detracts from my total single target dps thats required to burn down their capitals.

Are there any hard counters against this spam out there? (I know fighters are good against bombers but they get eaten by flak and do not seem that effective against corvettes)

Thanks

14,621 views 7 replies
Reply #1 Top

Flak actually works quite well against both.  The problem is that you can reach a "critical mass" of them at which point there is no defense aside from capital abilities.  Flak Burst and Telekinetic Push are the best way to avert critical mass bombers.  You'll still need fighters and flak to mop up though.

Reply #2 Top

Indeed, because both bombers and corvettes don't have to worry about formations you can cram a bunch of them into a small area, where your flak will have issues targeting them. Corvettes have a predictable pattern though and are vulnerable to frigate AoE attacks like missile barrage, explosive shot, meteor storm etc, so I think bombers are the hard one to deal with, as they have been for years. Especially since flak will be built more to counter corvettes so fighters will be even harder to use.

Reply #3 Top

I'm probably going to catch some flak for this (pun not intended), but a good way to kill bomber and corvette spam would be to change them from Light armor to VeryLight armor, the same as fighters.  I've never understood why fighters get VeryLight armor yet bombers and corvettes are as well-armored as full frigates.

Reply #4 Top

Against corvettes mines seem to work suprisingly well. The way they move drives thm into tight minefields if your fleet is positioned within that field. Also tight formations of Tactical structures and Capship AOE abilites.Leave safe paths in minefields to lure enemy corvettes in front of your guns.

Against bombers I'd suggest support carriers and fightersquads. It also works against corvettes to an extent, but they are so nimble they sometimes have trouble attacking corvettes. Keep the ships in small to medium sized groups and move them all over the well so bombers need to fly around a lot, it reduces their DPS a bit. Mix in a few flaks and Hangar bays and try to lure the bombers into them.

Alternatively, go for massive firepower (LRMs, Kodiaks) and kill the hosts as quickly as possible, once you succeeded get out of the well and leave the bombers to die or crash into your hangar bays.

Reply #5 Top

Quoting SpardaSon21, reply 3
I'm probably going to catch some flak for this (pun not intended), but a good way to kill bomber and corvette spam would be to change them from Light armor to VeryLight armor, the same as fighters.  I've never understood why fighters get VeryLight armor yet bombers and corvettes are as well-armored as full frigates.

 

Corvettes already have very light armor.

 

 

As for bombers: Do this and fighters lose much of their purpose.  Fighters counter bombers entirely because bombers have light armor.

 

The current system, while not perfect, is much more interesting IMo then just having flak counter all strikecraft as hard as it does fighters.

 

That said, I'd love to see some late tier researches added to each race that buff fighters.  Late game fighters fall more into the role of killing bombers the LRF anyway, which coincides with the late game being the stage wherein bombers swarms hit "critical mass". Honestly I thik it would be reasonable to add late game researches that either buff fighters or make capitalships more resistant to bombers.

Reply #6 Top

Advent Rebell Titan Onehits them with the AoE Ability (will slow you down if you kill hundrets of them at once).

Mines will blow them up too and pretty much every AoE Damage too.

 

I don't play Multi but i don't fear them a lot, Bombers are way more dangerous and free if their Host is alive.

Reply #7 Top

Corvettes can be countered by flak and get hit hard by AoE abilities, particularly things such as Chastic Burst and Missile Barrage as was mentioned before.  Bombers can be countered too, but you'd better have an anti-SC capital in your fleet or lots of things will die.