Infected Space The Conduit - Guide

INFECTED SPACE - THE CONDUIT



OPTIONALS

1. Defeat all Borg patrols
2. Destroy the transformers and the gateway
3. Don´t let the transformers be healed

You have 15 minutes.

Look around, talk to your team, launch your pets, get another cup of coffee, whatever. The stf won´t start until the first shot is fired.


After jumping into the map

That´s the view we´ll get.



We have three cubes directly in front of us, accompanied by a few spheres. In the background you can see a big gate, let´s just call it the middle gate. Stay away from it until the last stage begins (it´s mean, it causes damage to you. Much damage.).

At the left and right side are smaller gates (nanite transformers), below each of them are four objects (nanite generators), above each transformer are a cube and a single sphere as guards. I´ll talk about this later.


Stage 1 - Middle cube and spheres

That´s our starting point. And the real enemies aren´t the cubes. The spheres are. They can suck your shields before you can say "Oops, my shields are gone! Borg, you suck!" So try to take them out first - as fast as possible.


Stage 2 - Left side, nanite transformer and four nanite generators (that´s the tricky part of this stf)



^{Don´t mind the green "bubbles", they´ll be gone after stage 1.}


Take out the cube and the single sphere. Try NOT to shoot one of the nanite generators too early (just fly high enough, 10.1 km above the nanite generators is perfect. :D).

The transformer can´t be damaged until the four objects (nanite generators) below it are gone. But as soon as the first nanite generator is destroyed, the following will happen:

1. More (a bunch of) spheres will spawn, directly in front of your nose. And they´ll start a) to suck your shields and b) do what Borg usually do. Nasty Borg things.

2. Nanite spheres (repair spheres) will spawn at the middle gate. And they´ll try to reach your destination, and to heal whatever you´re shooting at.



^{Above the transformer is the new spheres spawn and at the right side of the Scimitar are the nanite spheres, which are dangerously close to be in healing range}

If they succeed (if they can heal the transformer), then the optional is lost.


Stage 3 - Right side, nanite transformer and nanite generators

It´s the same procedure as for the left side.


Stage 4 - Middle gate / tac cube



You´ve come far, fellow Captains!
You´re such a big threat to the Borg, that they were forced to call reinforcements. Which means that another tactical cube warped in while you´ve been busy on the right side!

Usually you´ll start to destroy the gate first, then the tac cube (or whatever you´ve arranged with your team). If you´re not in a high DPS group: don´t try to shoot both enemies at the same time. It´ll hurt.

Why the gate first? At this stage the tac cube should be in a position, where it´s too far away to be a threat to you, if you´re positioning yourself under the gate, at the blind spot.

Blind spot: below the gate (appr. 1 km distance), where the gate can´t hit you. That works in KASA as well.




Stage 1 - Stage 4

Destroy every enemy before you proceed to the next stage.


TACTICS


The 10%-rule

Shoot down every nanite generator to 10% health, then destroy all four of them simultaneously. That should buy you enough time to destroy the nanite transformer, before the repair spheres can reach it. Ignore the new spheres spawn, destroy the remaining nanite generators and then focus fire on the transformer.


Crowd Control

If a generator is destroyed too early and you don´t have the DPS to shoot down the transformer in time: use crowd control (for example Gravity Well) or other counter meassure systems (Tractor Beam Repulsors). GW will slow down the spheres, TBR will push them away from your transformer, and buy you some more time.


Communication

It´s essential, for every stf, not only for ISA. Use TS (makes lifes so much easier) or teamchat. But just talk to the people.


This stf is doable. It just requires a little communication and practice. Practice will come over time. So don´t be shy if someone asks in fleet chat to X up for ISA!

Nobody will kill or insult you if we don´t reach the optional (or Janeway will come after them! Undercaffeinated! :D). Everybody of us started as a stf-newbie at some point, so don´t worry!

And we have cookies!

Andrea :)

ooooo Looks great Andrea! cant wait to see the finished result.
Great idea to do an updated static guide, thats readaly available to the members.


If you need any help with the pictures, that Word wont let you do... Photoshop-online is a great online tool you can make use of, to put text in boxes, to really ensure it pops & to make adjustments on the contract of pictures etc.
I find it really good for quick editing when my normal photoshop isnt around :P

Thx for your offer, Gareth!

The first picture was edited with... *cough* PAINT. xD It was a test, just to see if the text is big enough (obviously not, lol).

On my other laptop I used GIMP, that´s basically Photoshop, only for free. B)
I´m going to install GIMP on this laptop as well, but first I have to install Windows 7, which I´ll get tomorrow. (I´m using currently Win 8.1 but it´s... crap and I never liked it anyway).

And no, I´m not looking forward to download / reinstall all of my billions of programs, lol.

Cheers, Andrea :)

This is looking really great, Andrea! :D You can also use Demo Record in game to move the camera around and take screenshots wherever you'd like in the map ^^; It's helped people many times in making machinima and tutorials.

How to use Demo Record:

1. In game chat type /demorecord insertname

For example: /demorecord infectedspace or /demorecord leroyjenkins

This will start recording :D

2. To stop recording, type /demorecordstop

This will stop your recording session!

3. Exit the game.
4. Relaunch the launcher.
5. Before hitting the ENGAGE button, click "OPTIONS" at the top.
6. Scroll down the options window and find the "Command Line" with an empty textbar below it.
7. type in -demoplay insertname
For example: -demoplay infectedspace or -demoplayleroyjenkins
8. Click save and repatch the game.
9. ENGAGE
10. Once it's launched it will start playing your recorded session. To move the camera about, just Press F2, and use the the WASD Keys and Right-Mouse to move/pan the camera. :D

WARNING: If you want to play your game normally again, you'll have to make sure the Command Line text in the options is empty next time you launch the game!!

Hey Andrea. If you need any editing help, I have photoshop on my computer now. I've been stupidly stressed lately, but if you need anything - I'm always happy to help.

(I find photo editing rather relaxing)

Getting started on putting together some nice visuals.

Do you want me to start on Khitomer Advanced or Elite for these?


[attachment=3027]FrontPage.jpg[/attachment]

Wow, that looks cool!

By all means, please proceed! :)

That's really cool! Good work! :D

Guide finished.

We´ll remember Captain Yar, who sacrificed her ship and crew to gather this important intel.

Live recording from the bridge of the R.R.W. T´asha:
"Oh crap... I´ve just realized... I can´t trigger the nanite spheres before... OH CRAP!!!" :D

And also thx to @dylgo, @alex284, @NikoLunus and @bullocaj, who jumped with me into the map, not minding an eventually possible leaver penalty.

Andrea :)


P.S.:

Please let me know if I forgot something or if you have questions. I wanted to keep it simple, so I didn´t mention things like "when should who activate which ability" or things like that.

Awesome!! Terrific resources to be had! Now that most everyone has super high DPS, I've noticed that Infected runs can often turn into a 'shoot everything as quick as you can' kind of match that can lose the optional, rather than the 10% rule, which I still think is a good tactic to ensure success.

Great to remember and stick to the tactics that will guarantee an optional every time. Thanks Andrea for the guide and to everyone who helped make it happen!

Playing with a non DPS team and actually using the old tactics is fun! :woohoo:

Very nice guide Andrea:)

Thank you to the people who gave time to help out.

Great guide!

Isn't there also an invisible spot/distance, aligned with the vertical plane of the gates, at about 8km out (right about where the transformers are)? Less useful for beams and cannons, but for torpedoes, it'd be brutal.

Quote by Kasandaro

... Isn't there also an invisible spot/distance, aligned with the vertical plane of the gates, at about 8km out (right about where the transformers are)? Less useful for beams and cannons, but for torpedoes, it'd be brutal.

I´ve heard about that, but I was never able to locate that spot. I´ve tried different distances (from 7 to 9.9 km) but was always shot at. Maybe someone else can shed light on this?

In fairness, it's less of an issue for big, heavy cruiserey ships with the HP and resists to withstand an angry gate - who, conveniently - will also have less maneuverability to find that sweet spot.

It's more net benefit for lighter escorts, destroyers, and raiders - who have much mitigation for gate agg, but would have greater ease sliding into the blind spot.