| Author |
Guide to ICC Cruisers - 1.670 |
The Fridge
Chief Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: December 13, 2008
Posts: 559
From: In Your Fridge, Eating your Foods.
|  Posted: 2011-07-27 13:01
So you've just made 2nd Rear Admiral and have stumbled into the world of the ICC cruiser bonanza. 8 Cruisers!!! available to you over the course of 2nd RA, 1st RA and Vice Admiral! With a guarantee that you'll be returning to them over your lengthy travel to the title of Chief Marshal.
-=Cruisers=-
-The bread and butter of any ICC fleet, going into battle without some of these on your team is just well, crying for Doran to Wack you with the BanHammer 2000 *tm
-There damage is on par with some dreads and there high maneuverability compared to other faction cruisers is a big advantage.
-Most of these ships can go at max speed while dealing out full gun salvo's
-Running without shields will ease the energy management on ships unable to so this.
-=M-235I Interdictor=- *2nd Rear Admiral w/ no badge*
-It's the Marmite Cruiser of every faction. Some Love it, Some Hate it.
-Hate it cause it can run at 20gu/s with the dictor on for 5-6 minutes. (Seriously wtf?)
-Love it because your faction is the one using this overpowered piece of engineering.
-Can boost the life expectancy of a fleet greatly.
-Vital for missile and fighter ships as-well as cannon ships.
-No Prestige gain unless in a group (If you see a guy dictoring for you be polite and invite to group)
- You will be the target of the other factions hate. (Can be an advantage sometimes)
-Roles-
*No Escape for you! - The Offensive Dictor, Mostly used when you've beaten the enemy and are just killing off the remnants. You keep the enemy station, dread or cruiser within 900gu following them like a lost puppy, or running from them frantically. (Mostly why these are hated)
*I'm just gonna fall asleep here. - The Defensive Dictor, Your just gonna sit there, like a pleb, behind or on top of a station/dread. stopping the enemy from jumping in point blank to reek havoc. This is the most suitable role for ICC as it protects the Point jumping Assault dreads from ripping into our missile ships for a few seconds.
-Recommended Set up-
Stock, no point changing it has your only using the Jump disruptor device.
[/End]
-=M-270C Carrier Cruiser=- *2nd Rear Admiral w/ Silver Support badge*
-Also known as "The Frog"
-Completely defense orientated
-Only has lasers to fight, but funnily enough if you run full speed with it and manage to get on the tail of an enemy cruiser or dread (God knows why your even there) it's very energy efficient with it's 5 laser alpha, losing very little energy.
-You get fighters before other factions, Huzzar!
-Escort Cruiser is Better
-Roles-
Just one really
*Running and Fightering - Stay at max speed with active shields on, throwing fighters at the enemy from afar. (More then 1500gu or with a support station)
You can use some pulse beams on your full arc's if you want to go on picket duty while your at it, but try to have someone with a ECCM on nearby.
Fling your fighters at stations or dreads for best results.
-Recommended Set Up-
Stock, or changing out the Chemical lasers for Pulse beams.
Keep F-29s
[/End]
-=M-228C Escort Cruiser=- *2nd Rear Admiral w/ Silver Support Badge*
-The Carrier Cruisers awesome older brother that all the Cool kid's know.
-Also known as "The Guppy" because it"looks like a guppy."-Fattierob
-Fighters with a side order of Rail-Gun Pain.
-Loses no energy at 20gu/s while alpha'ing.
-No Rear Armour plate, jump if an enemy dread is on you or a dedicated gunboat attacks.
-Roles-
*Escort? Never heard of the word. - Your not an escort, your decent gunboat, You have a lot more flexibility then the Carrier Cruiser. You can engage at a closer range then the carrier cruiser (At least 600gu), and if you manage to get behind an enemy cruiser you only have one less fore laser but 4 more rail guns with no worry on energy loss. Pretty fun ship.
*Carrier Cruiser Style. - Boring, but if you want you can just throw your fighters from afar at max speed.
Send your fighters at dreads or stations
-Recommended Set up-
Stock, no need to change anything.
[/End]
-=M-240M Missile Cruiser=- *2nd Rear Admiral w/ Silver Combat Badge*
-Can fire about 10 Ion Tracker Missile salvo's at 20gu/s with active shields on.
-Miniature Missile Dreadnought with 8 Missile slots.
-Can snipe from the side about 1800gu from the target.
-STAY AT RANGE
-Don't use against Kluth dreads or under.
- Only ICC ship that has a paint job with red paint...
-Roles-
Only really one or two
*I'MA FIRIN MA MISSILEZ - You stay at the side of the battle (To avoid the FF that every other missile ship thinks is cool when firing into a close range fight.) Targeting Stations and dreads, also if there's any slow moving ships punish them with a salvo or two.
Stay at low speeds under 10gu/s.
*Won't be Round for Long - Using the 20gu/s speed that cruisers have, you can fire 10 Ion Tracker Missiles at pursuing Dreads. Nice for a hit and run, when your out numbered and such.
-Working in tandem with a Dictor or ECM ship can seriously increase your life expectancy.
-Recommended Set up-
Stock works fine, but you can change the Cl's to Pulse beams if paranoid about missiles. And Ion Tracker Missiles to Harpexs to multiple the hurt you do on stations and dreads.
[/End]
-=M-231P Border Cruiser=- *1st Rear Admiral w/ Silver Navigator Badge*
This ship is one of the most versatile cruisers ICC has.
It's true to the ICC play style of Energy, Speed and Range.
Keep range, the only thing those lasers should be doing is PD'ing.
It's strictly for range fighting, if something gets close, jump.
-Roles-
*A Picket Ship/Kluth hunter - With 4 Pulse beams and 3 EW slots for ECCM it can protect from missile salvo's. If you change the pulse beams for CL's you can even hunt kluth.
*A Stealth Ship- With 3 ECM's you can barely cover your sig near 1 gu/s, to be effective you need at least another Border Cruiser, a pack of these will work wonders with the ECM changes.
*A Normal Gunship- Running with no ECM and at full speed with 8 reactives and full set of rail guns you'll have no energy loss at range. (Can switch to Stealth with 3ECM on or to Picket with ECCM)
-Recommended Set Up-
3 ECM/ECCM (Depending on role)
8 Reactive Shields (Your at range and in stealth preferably)
4 Pulse Beams (Even on the forward laser mounts.)
All Rail-guns (Lower signature increase then Gauss, Energy efficient)
IE Drives.
3 Aux Generators.
[/End]
-=M-230A Heavy Cruiser=- *1st Rear Admiral w/ No Badge*
-The Best Cruiser ICC has.
-The Best Cruiser in the game.
-The HC is the embodiment of Energy efficiency, Speed and Defense.
-Has a very good offensive armament to boot.
-Should be the bulk of your fleet, If you have 10 people online, 4-5 should be these. Hell even all 10 in HC would destroy enemy fleets.
-It'll beat dreads, if flown correctly. (Range vs EAD and BD, etc)
-It's even better when Speed Enh, turning enh and defense enh are added.
-The only con would be the pilot.
-I'm a blatant fanboy of it, and you will be too.
-Roles-
*Pew Pew Pew - Fighting at 500gu + you'll whittle away at the cruiser or enemy dread, with the turning on ICC cruisers you won't be getting hit much in return. Don't worry about spamming lasers.
If you get on the aft of somebody, it's not a question of the enemy pilots skill, it's a question of how long till there Jump drive is online so they can run the hell away.
*A modest Picket - You have 4 CL's for PD (which should always be on) and a eccm slot, you can PD for your fleet while your flying about laying the hurt on enemy dreads.
-Recommended Set up-
Stock, don't change a thing. Don't, Just don't.
[/End]
-=M-239A Strike Cruiser=- *1st Rear Admiral w/ No Badge*
-It's Overpowered (Haven't used it extensively)
-The only Cruiser in the game with a Core weapon on it, Let alone 3...
-Deals out the most damage of any ICC cruiser.
-All Gun mounts are the Heavy Variant.
-It runs out of power at 20gu/s in a reasonable amount of time.
-It has 4 lasers like the HC but there useless as they use to much energy for PD use or spam.
-It has Heavy Gauss as stock but I'd switch to Heavy Rail gun's for the energy.
-No rear armour, but has twice as much up front.
-Role-
*General Ownage - Well as it's overpowered an loaded to the teeth with Heavy guns spam away, whether it be up close (Not advised) or at range, you'll deal a lot of damage, it's very vulnerable at the rear. Instead make sure you get behind them first, and kill them in seconds.
Your main prey are stations and dreads, although for some reason cruisers can be eaten too.
-Recommended Set up-
Change all Gauss to Rail-guns for the energy.
Lasers are useless, don't use them, even in an alpha, unless your jumping away real soon.
IE's - Speed is king, then it's energy.(PFE's)
[/End]
-=M-235A Assault Cruiser=- *Vice Admiral w/ Bronze Star and Silver Combat*
-Aft Killer, If you get on the aft of something of the same size or smaller, it's usually going to get butt hurt real soon.
-It's got a very narrow range to deal maximum amount of damage, 30-150 gu.
-Lasers will eat your energy you'll get maybe 8-10 alpha's out with shields on at 20gu/s
-Only using torps you'll last for a lot longer but your still very close to the enemy, less then 500gu away.
-Unless you fire in a staggered way, if one torp misses they all miss.
-No aft armour.
-Roles-
Again i haven't used this much.
*He's Behind You!! - Get behind the enemy dread or cruiser, spam rear with torps, once through the armour maybe a laser alpha or two will be helpful.
Afterwards, immediately jump/run to safety as you won't have much energy left. Do not let anyone get behind you, jump if it's a EAD or TC otherwise you can try to shake them off, but jumping would be easier.
Always try to fight someone who's already engaged with an ally, this will help you slip in-behind them and lay waste.
-Recommended Set up-
Stock I'd say, Pulse beams are silly for a AC.
IE drives as with any other cruiser. Why? you may ask, because you can't hunt other cruisers down otherwise, and Cruisers are your main food.
[/End]
Man I'm poop'd.
While I welcome everyone else posting there tips and strats with ICC Cruisers, can i ask you guys to use the Edit feature instead of a new post.
If you have any question's ask them in the lobby, I'll try to answer them.
Might even make the end of this post like a Q&A or something and add question's i've gotten and the replies.
tl;dr - ICC Cruisers Pwn, get out of your stations.
[ This Message was edited by: The Fridge on 2011-09-30 09:46 ]
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Xavier I. Agamemnon
Grand Admiral
Exathra Alliance Fleet
Joined: October 12, 2010
Posts: 357
From: Babylon5
| Posted: 2011-07-27 13:14
thanks fridge
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Xavier I. Agamemnon
CD/I.C.S Spartacus
HC/I.C.S Athena
CDD/I.C.S Achilles
Leader of the Exathra Alliance Fleet.
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Veronw
Marshal
Joined: December 13, 2004
Posts: 554
| Posted: 2011-07-27 16:58
Some things I would like to add about the heavy cruiser and the strike cruiser is that you can really increase the effectiveness of the ship at close/medium ranges by chain firing the weapons. You'll land more shots and make it more difficult for the enemy to dodge, really emphasizing both ships the 'whittle away' effect that they have.
My personal preference with ICC cruisers is the Heavy Cruiser, simply because its been an amazing ship since 482 (probably earlier) and can operate at any range effectively. You can use your defense mode in combat occasionally if you are taking too much damage, with the HC's energy pool you can keep it up for about 15 seconds before needing to switch it off.
Something every pilot of an HC should really try and do in combat is get behind the enemy, especially other cruisers. If its a TC, approach head on, turn on defense mode, mash 8, switch back around, get on his tail, and kill him. Really that simple.
Only messed around with the strike cruiser a few times but from what I have seen, the principle is much the same as with the HC except that it operates best at longer ranges, and is an excellent anti dread unit. Closing to range is probably not going to be the wisest choice, but if you have to, your ion cannons should rip the enemy to shreds pretty easily.
Anywhose, all the stuff I can think of atm. Will post some more if anything comes to mind.
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*FTL*Soulless
Marshal
Joined: June 25, 2010
Posts: 787
From: Dres-Kona
| Posted: 2011-07-27 20:39
Adding to the AC. Its a very good broadsider. So you can dance with your enemy and pelt him/her to death with torps (only viable if its a crusier)
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NZ-juex16
Admiral
*Renegade Space Marines*
Joined: December 13, 2010
Posts: 102
From: Southland, New Zealand
| Posted: 2011-07-27 23:40
Vile things those ICC crusiers are, way stronger then they used to be and UGTO's eqvilent is nothing anymore. Nice guild though, have to keep that in mind when i'm fighting them....lol Care to do a UGTO one?
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U.W.S Melborne
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2011-07-28 09:02
I really enjoyed this post. I want to see more of this.
-Ent
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2011-07-28 09:04
Quote:
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On 2011-07-27 23:40, NZ-juex16 wrote:
Vile things those ICC crusiers are, way stronger then they used to be and UGTO's eqvilent is nothing anymore. Nice guild though, have to keep that in mind when i'm fighting them.
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Yeah good guide. But....
They are still tasty morsels.
Now with this guide I can perhaps understand them better.
And eat them. 
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Veronw
Marshal
Joined: December 13, 2004
Posts: 554
| Posted: 2011-07-28 12:56
You know Kenny, that K'luth cruisers arent half bad themselves.. could be worth giving them a shot instead of relying on Krills
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Pakhos[+R]
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: May 31, 2002
Posts: 1352
From: Clean room lab
| Posted: 2011-07-28 23:28
Quote:
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On 2011-07-28 12:56, Veronw wrote:
You know Kenny, that K'luth cruisers arent half bad themselves.. could be worth giving them a shot instead of relying on Krills
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Infact they are great against anything smaller or anything larger than cruisers.
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[-GTN-]BackSlash: "Azreal is a master of showing me what is horribly broken in the game."
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2011-07-29 05:19
Quote:
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On 2011-07-28 23:28, Pakhos[+R] wrote:
Quote:
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On 2011-07-28 12:56, Veronw wrote:
You know Kenny, that K'luth cruisers arent half bad themselves.. could be worth giving them a shot instead of relying on Krills
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Infact they are great against anything smaller or anything larger than cruisers.
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LOL. But not cruisers themselves. 
My thoughts exactly.
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... in space, no one can hear you scream.....
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CM7
Midshipman
Faster than Light
Joined: October 15, 2009
Posts: 1812
| Posted: 2011-07-30 11:44
ICC ships can reinforce their strongest firing arc to keep it trained on the enemy for longer than enemies can. Shield rotation is achieved two ways. The first way, and most practical, is using the number pad keys to rotate shield energy to the needed arc.
....................8(front)
4(Left)...........................6(right)
................... 2(back)
The second method is to right click on the shield in the gadget list on the lower left hand of your screen. Every number press or click raises shield energy on that arc by 20%
[Defense Mode]
Defense mode gives ICC shields 4x regeneration rate at 8x power cost. The most efficient use of defense mode in combat involves only putting select shield and shield facings on defense mode.
(control- s) cycles shield modes
*shields on = shields on and ready for incoming fire (this is the default mode)
*Shields Off = Defense mode on
*Shields Off = Shields and defense mode off.
Managing shield states, and shied rotation are vitally important to the successful operation of the new Border cruiser.
FTL Border Cruiser fleet flag ship;
All rail guns
All chemical beams
Outer layer of Active Shields
Inner Layer of Reactive Shields
ECM
1x Color Trail
3x ADV Engine Tuner
4x ADV Weapons Multipliers
All rail gun setup on this ship maximizes its energy, speed, and stealth capabilities.
All chemical beams ensures you have some bite for taking on smaller ships than you at close range. Run these in PD off mode to ensure you don’t waste any energy or blow your cover under ecm. Any missiles fired at you can be dealt with using pulse shield, maneuverability, or ecm.
Changing the outer layer of shields to active will ensure you can tank some damage from alpha strikes of assault class ships and live to tell about it.
Reading your gadget list like a paragraph (top left to bottom right) your first shield gadget you come across is on the inside. Next one is on the outside. Next is inside. The pattern repeats itself for the remaining shields as well.
If your having trouble following the pattern, there is a second method. When you spawn a new BC, have a friend fire one beam at each of your arcs one at a time. When you see a shield take damage in your gadget list, select it and turn it off using the yellow arrow buttons located in the bottom right of your screen.
Once these steps have been repeated for each arc, you should have 4 shield generators turned off. Replace these with active. Be sure to have a friend help you check your work. A reactive shield on the outside of one of your arcs is a fatal flaw.
Next select each active shield and push shift 8 (numbers at top of keyboard). This assigns the number 8 to manage all of your active shields. Regular number pad shield rotation will still work the same.
Select each reactive shield generator and push shift 9 (numbers at top of keyboard). This assigns the number 8 to manage all of your reactive shields. Regular number pad shield rotation will still work the same.
Now that you have your shields set up like this there are a number of really awesome things you can do!
Shift 8 will now switch the state of your active shields.
8 will evenly distribute shield energy from your reactive shields into your active!
Shift 9 will now switch the state of your reactive shields.
9…. Yea don’t ever distribute energy evenly to reactive….
Now there are near limitless applications of shield states for a number of situations. I will list a couple that won’t put BC pilots at risk for the enemy to know. Up to you to discover them all.
*ECM Stealth
From standard all shields on normal.
Push Shift 8, Shift 8, M.
(your active shields are off and ecm is now running)
If you come under attack push sift 8, M. Your shields are now all on and your ecm is off.
*Efficient Defense mode
From standard
Push shift 9, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, ect until active shields are full.
Once shields are full, or otherwise want to terminate defense mode, push shift 9, shift9.
In closing, the BC is best left to those who have mastered ICC shields. Mismanagement of shields on a BC will end with your death. Keep in mind that you can quickly shuck away all your defenses into one arc leaving you vulnerable for a secondary attack. Once a battle has begun and you have taken a lot of shield damage, don’t expect energy to rise fast under combat conditions.
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CM7
Midshipman
Faster than Light
Joined: October 15, 2009
Posts: 1812
| Posted: 2012-01-02 00:09
much needed bump.
I see lots of new names out there. Come See what ICC has to offer.
Kluth really hate our cruisers.
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Defiance and Opposition, a tribute to teamwork. I will remember always
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Talien
Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: May 11, 2010
Posts: 2044
From: Michigan
| Posted: 2012-01-02 11:31
Nah, they don't hate ICC Cruisers, they just hate us.
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*FTL*Soulless
Marshal
Joined: June 25, 2010
Posts: 787
From: Dres-Kona
| Posted: 2012-01-02 21:34
they hate the pilots behind the crusiers
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Blackjack [DBL]
Grand Admiral
Faster than Light
Joined: February 25, 2011
Posts: 344
From: The land of venomous reptiles.
| Posted: 2012-01-02 23:17
i agree with Soulless. If theres a moron flying an ICC cruiser, they will fail. Same with any ship.
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