The Chmmr Avatar

[The Troglodyte]

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“Your behavior makes clear the very slight distinction between bravery… and suicidal stupidity.” – The Safe Ones

14 Chmmr Avatars (14 x 30 = 420 pts.)
VS.
14 Spathi Eluders (14 x 18 = 252 pts.)

RESULTS: Chmmr wins with all 14 Avatars remaining!
Approximate battle time: 10 minutes

ANALYSIS: The Spathi ships have powerful engine thrusters, and they could resist the pull from the tractor beam while at a distance, but the situation become much more precarious when they moved in to fire off some shots, the Chmmr could hammer down on the beam and draw the Eluder vessel in before they could make a hasty retreat, and inevitably some damage was inflicted by a combination of ZapSats and the main laser. This long battle definitely gave me plenty of time to use my imagination, as I pictured the Eluder’s crew pod balls getting sawed off by the Avatar’s powerful Terawatt laser. The Chmmr had little to fear from the Spathi, since their ZapSats pretty much cancelled out a vast majority of all forms of Spathi weaponry, but they really should’ve kept a closer eye (or eye equivalent) on the planet!! It seemed like when they weren’t trimming a little off the sides of Eluder voidships, they were bouncing off of planets like it was going out of style!… But in the end, every Spathi vessel was skewered like some weird multi-colored shish kebab!
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[The Troglodyte]

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It’s kind of hard to come up with a clever, cheery quote when you’re dealing with a couple of the most boring-sounding robotic voices ever, so I bring to you…

THE BATTLE OF THE MONOTONES!!!

14 Chmmr Avatars (14 x 30 = 420 pts.)
VS.
14 Slylandro Probes (14 x 17 = 238 pts.)

RESULTS: Chmmr wins with all 14 Avatars remaining!
Approximate battle time: 2 minutes

ANALYSIS: They didn’t even lose a single ZapSat! I’m not sure if the Tractor Beam had any effect on the Probes and their constant propulsion, but the Chmmr used it all the same. Sometimes, after a futile attempt to attack the Avatar, the probe would retreat to “Energize!”… but I think it was just because they knew they were getting their little robotic butts kicked and wanted a quick breather before their most certain demise! The Chmmr’s laser cannon ran them through with no trouble whatsoever and the ZapSats cleaned up, even when the Probes outmaneuvered the slower turning Avatar.
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[Shiver]

The 2418-B's lightning has variable range which can actually hit Chmmr from beyond its reach. As many as 1 in 30 shots will do so, if memory serves. This is, of course, a disgusting exploit and anyone that actually uses it should not be played with in PvP. Thankfully, this trick was so obscure that it never caused any problems in #uqm-arena back in the day.

[Draxas]

Exploit or not, you've got to be damn good controlling one of the toughest ships to keep under control in order to make that work. It also sounds even more dull than trying to plink away at an Avatar with a Torch.

[The Troglodyte]

The 2418-B's lightning has variable range which can actually hit Chmmr from beyond its reach. As many as 1 in 30 shots will do so, if memory serves. This is, of course, a disgusting exploit and anyone that actually uses it should not be played with in PvP. Thankfully, this trick was so obscure that it never caused any problems in #uqm-arena back in the day.

Does anybody know how the probe’s firing pattern is determined? I always thought it was a pattern of lightning that shot towards the enemy, and if they were in range it arched out more to make contact and decrease the target’s hit points, with the remaining lightning bolts displayed just for aesthetic fluff. To reiterate and expand, to me it looked as if most of the zaps were pre-configured to hit static locations (pardon the pun) at their pre-set coordinates. Does this mean all of the lightning directional points are determined “on-the-spot” by ways of a variable generator in relation to their target? Could the lightning pattern appearance itself be generated in a similar fashion? Also, is the fuel consumption 1 bolt per energy unit?

Exploit or not, you've got to be damn good controlling one of the toughest ships to keep under control in order to make that work. It also sounds even more dull than trying to plink away at an Avatar with a Torch.

Well, since you bring up the torch, let’s see how they did, but I’m sure we’ll soon learn the best method is to not let the computer fly your torch for you!
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“To make the Thraddash your friends, you should consider killing most, but not all of them.” - Melnorme

14 Chmmr Avatars (14 x 30 = 420 pts.)
VS.
14 Thraddash Torches (14 x 10 = 140 pts.)

RESULTS: Chmmr wins with all 14 Avatars remaining!
Approximate battle time: 3 minutes

ANALYSIS: Well, the Chmmr weren’t making any new friends today -- they killed all of the Thraddash with a fervent quickness! One of their ZapSats was eventually destroyed, and then the rockets started penetrating the barrier more, leaving the Avatar crew down to about a third… I’m thinking maybe another 2 or 3 torches may have finally taken it down! Maybe. In fact, the ZapSats blocked just about everything that came within range, including the long lines of afterburner chemtrails, which the ZapSats would fire upon in succession as you’d hear the “Tap, tap, tap!” sound of those little lasers blasting away at fire puffs. I’ve learned that the AI is pretty crazy flying a Torch, and it was constantly in danger when it would attempt to sweep in for an attack, and only when they dared to venture through the path of the Avatar that the afterburner plasma could even get through, though it usually meant the quick destruction of the attacking Torch.
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[The Troglodyte]

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“AVATAR BATTLESHIPS ARE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN OUR BROODHOME OR X-FORM VESSELS. IN COMPETENT HANDS, THESE SHIPS CAN DEFEAT ANY SHIP IN SPACE.” – Chmmr

14 Chmmr Avatars (14 x 30 = 420 pts.)
VS.
14 Druuge Maulers (14 x 17 = 238 pts.)

RESULTS: Chmmr wins with 1 remaining Avatar. (Druuge wins pointwise by 152 points!)
Approximate battle time: 8 minutes

ANALYSIS: Quasi was absolutely correct on two big points: The AI is what we’d like to call NOT competent… yes, I know, the word would be ‘incompetent’, but I was going for effect… (ahem).. and point number two! -- the Avatar is quite vulnerable to the Mauler, especially its powerful long-barreled cannon. The Chmmr survived the confrontation, but this was not really a win for them. The role of the Tractor Beam was intriguing in this match-up, in particular with regards to momentum, velocity, direction and the overall physics dynamic influenced over the Mauler ship. The recoil of the Mauler’s cannon was obviously a tremendous influential factor, and if they had aimed themselves on a perpendicular course, then they would shoot off as the tractor beam whipped them like a ball bearing flying out of a slingshot in long curved fast-paced motion, and the Chmmr could usually gain the upperhand and finish them off from behind. However, once the Druuge had the Avatar properly in their sights, the tractor almost helped out the Druuge with their plans; the beam pulled them in, the recoil pushed them back, and then they could realign and continue bombarding the Avatar. Then, when their energy went low, they could toss a Druuge crew member into the furnace and continue the fight.
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[Death 999]

PVP folks, how does that go between humans? Seems like the Druuge would still have an advantage but perhaps, with good tractor strategy, not an overwhelming one.

[The Troglodyte]

Coincidentally, during Gekko and Nuclear’s match, a Mauler and Avatar go head-to-head (and fully crewed) right at the 5 minute mark:

http://www.star-control.com/community/v ... 147#p25147

Spoiler Alert! The Avatar comes out on top, but you can see a good PvP strategy versus the Avatar with a Mauler.

In any case, this does seem like a troublesome match-up for the Chmmr, and to piggyback on Death’s comment for some more feedback, does any other PvP players have anything else to add to this match-up from a strategical standpoint?

[Mormont]

Yes, in PvP it's the best single-ship counter for Avatar besides the Utwig. It's not a definitive win but the Druuge generally does well. As I recall, the best tactic for Chmmr is to try to pull the Druuge into the planet.

[The Troglodyte]

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“After the war, the Chenjesu and the Mmrnmhrm chose to be slave-shielded on the Chenjesu's homeworld at Procyon. We suspect that they are melding their two species to form some kind of new, hybrid race, a race which may well be powerful enough to destroy the Ur-Quan single-handedly.” – Melnorme

14 Chmmr Avatars (14 x 30 = 420 pts.)
VS.
14 Melnorme Traders (14 x 18 = 252 pts)

RESULTS: Chmmr wins with 12 Avatars remaining!
Approximate battle time: 5 minutes

ANALYSIS: There were very few opportunities for the Melnorme to make any progress, but their Confusion Ray greatly helped them the few times they were able to use it, even though it usually only postponed their defeat. It did, however, give them ample time to charge their weapon all the way up since they could stay well out of range while the Chmmr’s Tractor Beam was nullified, and sometimes unleash the red blast upon the Avatar while it was still spinning. Then, they could follow that up with a quick succession of green charges, with some of the blasts now starting to get through with the Avatar missing a ZapSat or two. Other than those few isolated instances though, this was a virtual mismatch for the Trader vessels, and they’d usually get pulled in and torn to shreds before they could mount any sort of resistance.
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