Gateway To Gre´thor - Guide
GATEWAY TO GRE´THOR
is one of the new Iconian PvE-Queues and one of the easiest and fastests ways to get Iconian marks and datacores.
The STF has 3 stages and also 3 (4) optionals. Ideally you want to split up your team to 3/2 to accomplish all tasks. That means: 3 players are going to one side, 2 players are going to the other side.
It´s very helpful to assign the sides (aka shipyard or starbase) before you´re starting^^ Stick to your assigned side! However, maybe there will be a situation when you have to help out on the other side. Of course you can and should do that (see: TIMER!). But after that: go back to your ASSIGNED side!
The 3 stages:
1. Defend the starbase and the shipyard:
Two waves of enemies will spawn at each location. There´s a timer counting down.
[attachment=3030]GGAinitialmap.jpg[/attachment]
On the left side is the starbase, on the right side is the shipyard. Those are your destinations.
In case you have to help out on the other side: There´s a group of mobs between the starbase and the shipyard. IGNORE them (try to fly around them (aka stay 10 km away from them) to reach the other side as fast as possible, they are just a distraction and not a part of the enemy waves which are attacking the starbase / shipyard. Also IGNORE enemies in the asteroid belt.
OPTIONAL:
Defeating 2 waves of enemies at the starbase and shipyard in a given time.
2. Close the radiation gates:
Troop transports will launch at the starbase / shipyard and try to make it to the planet.
There will be two kinds of gates appear:
a) Radiation gateways (the GREEN ones):
Those are your primary objectives. Close them. You can close them and shoot enemies at the same time. Just make sure you´re staying in range (I´ll give a definition of "staying in range" later on, I haven´t figured it out yet. But it´s... close), otherwise you´ll have to start over.
Radiation gateways will cause radiation (nomen est omen) damage to the troop transports. And those transports will - of course - not pass the gateways but instead park directly in front of them. And - of course - blow up if you don´t close the gates fast enough.
There are usually two spawn points for the GREEN gates on each side: one near to the planet, the other one near to the starbase / shipyard. Occasionally there will spawn one between those locations.
a) Spawning gateways (the YELLOW ones):
You can IGNORE them. Yeah, they will spawn (nomen est omen again) enemies, but you should be able to defeat them. Closing them will only take time, and I´ve made the experience that while closing a yellow gateway another GREEN gateway will show up.
It´s just faster to shoot the spawning mobs.
[attachment=3031]GGAgates.jpg[/attachment]
OPTIONAL:
Save 10 troop transports.
3. Defeating the dreadnought:
The Iconian Dreadnought is your PRIMARY objective.
Don´t be scared because there are so many, maaaaany mobs around the Dread. Did I mention that there´s a timer running as well? That´s why you´re focussing on the Dreadnought and ONLY on the Dreadnought, don´t waste time with fighting mobs. They´ll die in your BFAW or CSV anyway.
Besides, the Dreadnought is spawning nasty things and using nasty abilities all the time and tries to make your life miserable. That´s why the Dread has to die first.
OPTIONALS:
1. Defeat the Dreadnought in a given time
2. Defeat the enemy fleet in a given time
SPECIAL TACTICS / NOTES:
Zone Defense
as Sej has mentioned in the post below. A fast ship like an escort could just run between the spawn points of the radiation gates and close them. That´s much more difficult for a cruiser (aka terrible turn rate and such).
In my opinion the most effective way is just to camp the spawn points (planet + shipyard and planet + starbase) with respectively one ship. But you´re a team of five, right? So the fifth ship (preferable NOT a cruiser, it has to be a fast one) could take over the job of a floater and close those gates which the others can´t reach in time.
Team balance
1. There shouldn´t be a problem for mixed teams (tac, engi, sci). Sci and eng CAN do high dps if the build is set up right. And I´m now not talking about fancy epic weapons or consoles, I´m talking about your skilltree and your boff layout.
If you´re not sure about your build: ask! Use the service of our Office Of The Shipwright
2. It doesn´t make any sense to send 3 high-dps-ships to the same side, and 2 low-dps-ships to the other side. You WILL run out of time, even if the first group comes over to help.
Critical factors
This STF is almost impossible to fail. Almost.
But the amount of marks you´ll get depends on the amount of optionals you´ve accomplished. And reaching the optionals (on advanced level) in Stage 1 and 3 really depends on DPS.
Communication
is important!
Of course you have assigned the sides before you started the STF.
But maybe there´s a teammate on the wrong side...
or maybe you want to change your tactics while the STF is running...
or maybe you can´t judge the distance to the green gateway that just spawned and you want to know if your teammate is closing it already...
or maybe...
So, please, pleeaase keep your team chat open. At least.
The easiest way to communicate is teamspeak. You don´t have to type in chat (and maybe blow up while you´re doing that) and instructions can be followed without losing time.
Even if you don´t have a microphone or don´t want to talk (you can just listen): join your team on teamspeak, it makes your STF life so much easier: How To Setup Teamspeak
I hope this short tutorial helps you to be successful.
This PvE-Queue is really (in my opinion, of course) the most fun STF and ALMOST impossible to fail, even on advanced. Soooo... whenever there´s a call for GGA (Gateway to Gre´thor advanced) in fleet chat: JOIN US! We have cookies!
And newbies who haven´t done this PvE-Queue before, are VERY welcome! :)
Cheers, Andrea
P.S.: I´ll update this tutorial once I have better (and more) screenshots. (It was difficult to take even the second screenshot while slideshow´ing over the map, lol. I hope the next patch will fix a big part of the lag.)
Brought to you by Stonewall Fleet - Department Of Combat Operations
is one of the new Iconian PvE-Queues and one of the easiest and fastests ways to get Iconian marks and datacores.
The STF has 3 stages and also 3 (4) optionals. Ideally you want to split up your team to 3/2 to accomplish all tasks. That means: 3 players are going to one side, 2 players are going to the other side.
It´s very helpful to assign the sides (aka shipyard or starbase) before you´re starting^^ Stick to your assigned side! However, maybe there will be a situation when you have to help out on the other side. Of course you can and should do that (see: TIMER!). But after that: go back to your ASSIGNED side!
The 3 stages:
1. Defend the starbase and the shipyard:
Two waves of enemies will spawn at each location. There´s a timer counting down.
[attachment=3030]GGAinitialmap.jpg[/attachment]
On the left side is the starbase, on the right side is the shipyard. Those are your destinations.
In case you have to help out on the other side: There´s a group of mobs between the starbase and the shipyard. IGNORE them (try to fly around them (aka stay 10 km away from them) to reach the other side as fast as possible, they are just a distraction and not a part of the enemy waves which are attacking the starbase / shipyard. Also IGNORE enemies in the asteroid belt.
OPTIONAL:
Defeating 2 waves of enemies at the starbase and shipyard in a given time.
2. Close the radiation gates:
Troop transports will launch at the starbase / shipyard and try to make it to the planet.
There will be two kinds of gates appear:
a) Radiation gateways (the GREEN ones):
Those are your primary objectives. Close them. You can close them and shoot enemies at the same time. Just make sure you´re staying in range (I´ll give a definition of "staying in range" later on, I haven´t figured it out yet. But it´s... close), otherwise you´ll have to start over.
Radiation gateways will cause radiation (nomen est omen) damage to the troop transports. And those transports will - of course - not pass the gateways but instead park directly in front of them. And - of course - blow up if you don´t close the gates fast enough.
There are usually two spawn points for the GREEN gates on each side: one near to the planet, the other one near to the starbase / shipyard. Occasionally there will spawn one between those locations.
a) Spawning gateways (the YELLOW ones):
You can IGNORE them. Yeah, they will spawn (nomen est omen again) enemies, but you should be able to defeat them. Closing them will only take time, and I´ve made the experience that while closing a yellow gateway another GREEN gateway will show up.
It´s just faster to shoot the spawning mobs.
[attachment=3031]GGAgates.jpg[/attachment]
OPTIONAL:
Save 10 troop transports.
3. Defeating the dreadnought:
The Iconian Dreadnought is your PRIMARY objective.
Don´t be scared because there are so many, maaaaany mobs around the Dread. Did I mention that there´s a timer running as well? That´s why you´re focussing on the Dreadnought and ONLY on the Dreadnought, don´t waste time with fighting mobs. They´ll die in your BFAW or CSV anyway.
Besides, the Dreadnought is spawning nasty things and using nasty abilities all the time and tries to make your life miserable. That´s why the Dread has to die first.
OPTIONALS:
1. Defeat the Dreadnought in a given time
2. Defeat the enemy fleet in a given time
SPECIAL TACTICS / NOTES:
Zone Defense
as Sej has mentioned in the post below. A fast ship like an escort could just run between the spawn points of the radiation gates and close them. That´s much more difficult for a cruiser (aka terrible turn rate and such).
In my opinion the most effective way is just to camp the spawn points (planet + shipyard and planet + starbase) with respectively one ship. But you´re a team of five, right? So the fifth ship (preferable NOT a cruiser, it has to be a fast one) could take over the job of a floater and close those gates which the others can´t reach in time.
Team balance
1. There shouldn´t be a problem for mixed teams (tac, engi, sci). Sci and eng CAN do high dps if the build is set up right. And I´m now not talking about fancy epic weapons or consoles, I´m talking about your skilltree and your boff layout.
If you´re not sure about your build: ask! Use the service of our Office Of The Shipwright
2. It doesn´t make any sense to send 3 high-dps-ships to the same side, and 2 low-dps-ships to the other side. You WILL run out of time, even if the first group comes over to help.
Critical factors
This STF is almost impossible to fail. Almost.
But the amount of marks you´ll get depends on the amount of optionals you´ve accomplished. And reaching the optionals (on advanced level) in Stage 1 and 3 really depends on DPS.
Communication
is important!
Of course you have assigned the sides before you started the STF.
But maybe there´s a teammate on the wrong side...
or maybe you want to change your tactics while the STF is running...
or maybe you can´t judge the distance to the green gateway that just spawned and you want to know if your teammate is closing it already...
or maybe...
So, please, pleeaase keep your team chat open. At least.
The easiest way to communicate is teamspeak. You don´t have to type in chat (and maybe blow up while you´re doing that) and instructions can be followed without losing time.
Even if you don´t have a microphone or don´t want to talk (you can just listen): join your team on teamspeak, it makes your STF life so much easier: How To Setup Teamspeak
I hope this short tutorial helps you to be successful.
This PvE-Queue is really (in my opinion, of course) the most fun STF and ALMOST impossible to fail, even on advanced. Soooo... whenever there´s a call for GGA (Gateway to Gre´thor advanced) in fleet chat: JOIN US! We have cookies!
And newbies who haven´t done this PvE-Queue before, are VERY welcome! :)
Cheers, Andrea
P.S.: I´ll update this tutorial once I have better (and more) screenshots. (It was difficult to take even the second screenshot while slideshow´ing over the map, lol. I hope the next patch will fix a big part of the lag.)
Brought to you by Stonewall Fleet - Department Of Combat Operations
