PC Frontier Defense

So I've had little luck of filling my days this week with important things to do. Sunday is no exception.

I'm looking for a GOOD frontier defense team. If you're frustrated because you're doing everything in your power to get three map stars, and your team is letting you down, I want you on my team.

We'll need to optimize our Pilot and Titan Classes for this game mode. If you've played frontier defense 10 times, you can just use the slots provided for the game-mode.

Pilot Classes

Spoiler

Make an Anti Infantry Build (Example: Smart Pistol MK5 [Enhanced Targeting], Mag Launcher, RE-45 Autopistol, Stim, Arc Grenades, Quick Reload Kit, Warpfall Transmitter)

Make an Anti-Titan Build (Example: Spitfire LMG [HCOG] (0.2 seconds ADS vs Iron Sights ADS of 0.7 seconds), [Slammer] (See the video here Spitfire LMG Slammer vs R97 Scatterfire if you believe you should use the R97 instead), Mag Launcher (Use whatever weapon you're best with for taking out Titans as quickly as possible, bear in mind you need to kill Arc Titans too), Stim/Cloak (whatever you prefer), Arc Grenades/Satchel Charges (again, your preference), Quick Reload Kit, Warpfall Transmitter)

OR you could swing this another way, make your own class, with the Titan Guardian Chip, leave him to guard or follow you while you destroy enemies on foot.

Also what would be useful is a class with the Charge Rifle, to use on a Dropship respawn. Before you respawn, select the Charge Rifle Class, when you appear in the dropship, select the class you plan to use on the ground, laser Titans with the Charge Rifle from the dropship, and then when you get out, you automatically switch to the class you selected.

Titan Classes

Spoiler

Make all your builds with nuclear ejection, unless you have a good reason not to. Taking out three titans (or two with Titan Salvage/Outsource Burn Cards) with Nuke Eject nets you a free Titanfall. Remember that you can insta kill Titans with a well-aimed titanfall as well. Use these things to your advantage.

Good Anti-Infantry Weapons are the Quad Rocket [Extended Mag], XO-16 Chaingun [Extended Mag] (Headshots), Triple Threat [Extended Mag/Mines], Arc Cannon [Factory Issue] (charge it 20% then let go).

Good Anti-Titan Weapons are the 40mm Cannon, Quad Rocket, Arc Cannon [Capacitor], Plasma Railgun, Triple Threat [Mines] (Extended Mag if you can use the Alternate Fire function well), XO-16 Chaingun.

If you can burn the Double-Agent card and you're in your Titan, I definitely recommend using Cluster Missile and Electric Smoke as your Titan Ordnance and Tactical Reactor Abilities respectively. You can also deploy your Particle Wall tactically to cover the Harvester if Infantry or Titans are doing too much damage to it (Less than 50% Harvester Shield remaining),

If you plan to use Double-Agent cards for the whole game, I would recommend a Stryder or Atlas Chassis choice as this will give you more mobility than the Ogre at the expense of Durability, which is less relevant when enemies ignore you (It's still totally relevant for Arc Titans though), and using these types of Titans will also give you access to the Dash Core (for getting from one point of the map to the other, incase you have to take out Mortar Titans, for instance), or the Damage Core (which allows you to deal with Titans near the harvester quickly, as well as Mortar Titans).

Strategy

Spoiler

Since every map is different, has a different number of waves, uses lots of different unit types, has different deployment locations for said units, and even surprise deployment locations for Titans (like the two nuke titans that drop behind the harvester in Zone 18), there's no way to tell on the first try whether or not we'll be able to finish the map with three stars. Unfortunately, I cannot find any information on the maps as to what we need to watch out for and really it's a case of trial and error to try to get our strategy right for the specific map.

We should, however, take these strategic fundamentals into account.

-Keep your Distance from Arc Titans, their shock field will insta-kill any shields, and this goes for the harvester too. Big Punch these guys, use all your firepower, or nuke eject if these guys get too close to the harvester, or these guys will be doing more damage than the Mortar Titans.
-Set up Turrets to take out infantry, and any spectres that may rodeo your titan, and if necessary, set them up to interrupt the Mortar Titan's AI pattern before they shell the harvester.
-Nuke Eject Nuke Titans that get too close to the harvester, and they won't get a chance to do the same.

-Have a rough plan of where everyone is going to go:

Spoiler

"The Harvester Defender"
The Harvester Defense needs to stick close to the harvester. If he can't dash to it using a Stryder Titan, then he's generally gone too far out. He's in charge of dispensing of infantry, any Titans that break through the ranks, nasty surprises, as well as intercepting Mortar Titan Rockets if he has nothing else to do. He should have Nuke Eject, Electric Smoke, and Cluster Missiles on his Titan as Standard. Since Rodeoing Titans past the "halfway" point of the map is generally considered pointless (unless it's a really big map or the AI titan waypath really twists and turns), this person should use an anti-infantry loadout, and should be ready to get out of his titan to deal with infantry quickly.

"The Midway Man"
The Midway Man's job is to roughly stand in the middle of the map, and take out Titans, Infantry, and anything else that comes his way. In the event that he lets too many enemies get past him (so that it makes it impossible for the Harvester Defender to take them out), he needs to fall back, and if necessary, Nuke Eject to take out the enemies he's let slip through.

"Frontline One"
Frontline One's job is to take out Mortar Titans, and to Intercept Titans that drop in on the far side of the map, away from the Harvester. Since taking out Infantry from this position is counter-intuitive to defending the harvester, he should use a pilot anti-titan loadout, in the event he has to nuke eject. Remember to nuke eject if you can be sure you can take out three titans in one go, because it will give you a free titanfall. If there are no Mortar Titans, Frontline One can fall back to assist the Midway Man.

"Frontline Two"
Frontline Two has the same strategy as Frontline One, but he needs to be on the symmetrical opposite of his partner (so if Mortar Titans drop on the left vertical slice of the map, Frontline One takes them out, and Frontline Two's job is to take out Mortar Titans on the right side of the map)

My OriginID is the same as my forum username. Microphones would be nice (no delay in game actions when speaking as when you're typing), but are not necessary.

 

So I did a few hours with Kyozaru. We were only able to do Dig Site on Three Stars as every other map we tried required some greater form of organization.

Perhaps I haven't done enough investigation/research, but I think Frontier Defense could use some map strategy infographics. I'm working on these at the moment, but I'm also trying to balance the workload with a new website re-design I'm planning to implement over the course of the next week.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to chirp in about getting a session organized with four people for Frontier Defense, I'll host/join the game.