Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:04 pm
NukeIt was absolutely right, and I can confirm that it's possible to do it with Rippers, with a whole lot of time to spare (well over 4 minutes). The loadout I used was 2x Lavablade II, Slingshot, and Ripper.
Also, I must apologise once again, as I apparently mistook the Ripper's shield damage for its hull damage. The hull damage is actually 3912, which means the Driller comparison looks like this...
Ripper 3912 * 20 = 78240
Driller 1054 * 50 = 52700
...with the Ripper being the clear favorite.
Once I realised this, I knew I must have made an error somewhere. At first I thought perhaps I got terribly unlucky with Rippers and/or terribly lucky with the Drillers the first time I tried this challenge. But after a couple more experiments I still found Rippers insufficient. I knew I must be doing something wrong. Soon enough I realised what was going on...
If you're facing the most-outside surface of a globe, any mines you send into it won't do damage. (Misleadingly, guns and missiles will do damage when fired from this angle.) This is the approach to the first globe that I have always found most natural. So, my mines were hitting it (and little did I know, doing no damage), and I'd burn through all twenty Rippers by the time my guns and missiles took it down. The natural way to approach the next globe is from the side (since you got to go around the disc), and mines aimed at the side of the globe will do damage. So I think in my previous experiments I was foolishly wasting all 20 Rippers on the first one, doing no damage, and wasting 20 of my 50 Drillers on the first one also. But in the latter case I had enough Drillers left over to finish the whole job.
Anyway, I'm not sure, but I think that's the cause of my confusion.
Again, apologies to NukeIt, and sincere thanks! If you hadn't brought this up I would never have known!
Also, I must apologise once again, as I apparently mistook the Ripper's shield damage for its hull damage. The hull damage is actually 3912, which means the Driller comparison looks like this...
Ripper 3912 * 20 = 78240
Driller 1054 * 50 = 52700
...with the Ripper being the clear favorite.
Once I realised this, I knew I must have made an error somewhere. At first I thought perhaps I got terribly unlucky with Rippers and/or terribly lucky with the Drillers the first time I tried this challenge. But after a couple more experiments I still found Rippers insufficient. I knew I must be doing something wrong. Soon enough I realised what was going on...
If you're facing the most-outside surface of a globe, any mines you send into it won't do damage. (Misleadingly, guns and missiles will do damage when fired from this angle.) This is the approach to the first globe that I have always found most natural. So, my mines were hitting it (and little did I know, doing no damage), and I'd burn through all twenty Rippers by the time my guns and missiles took it down. The natural way to approach the next globe is from the side (since you got to go around the disc), and mines aimed at the side of the globe will do damage. So I think in my previous experiments I was foolishly wasting all 20 Rippers on the first one, doing no damage, and wasting 20 of my 50 Drillers on the first one also. But in the latter case I had enough Drillers left over to finish the whole job.
Anyway, I'm not sure, but I think that's the cause of my confusion.
Again, apologies to NukeIt, and sincere thanks! If you hadn't brought this up I would never have known!