Moon Breakers Beginner’s Guide

Moon Breakers Beginner’s Guide by dragon_kid

This is a general guide designed for Moon Breakers, which will later pan into individual reviews over each ship as I gain them into my army. This is to hopefully reduce complaints about how the game isn’t ‘fun’ or ‘too easy to get wasted in’. Having reached top of the scoreboards quite a few times in my Mamba, I feel at least partly entitled to offering my opinions to try and keep this game somewhat ‘user friendly’.

A big thanks to the Moon Breakers Fourum for helping to refine some of these concepts, but most of them I’ve been mulling over for quite a while now as I learn the game myself.

—BASICS—

1. Upgrade Upgrade Upgrade!

Moon Breakers ships are stupidly weak after market, surprisingly enough. Without investing hard-earned credits, you’ll die easy and your credit revenue as a result will be sorely disadvantageous. The effects of upgrades, while slight when you look at the stats, is much more noticeable when in the field.

2. Learn the ship you’re piloting

Jumping strait in, getting exploded a few rounds, then coming back and screaming that the game is borked in the balance isn’t too fair. Instead, spend a day playing as the ship, and when ya get breaks in your own dogfights, observe how others (even your targets) maneuver their ship or work with other pilots. Observation really helps in that regard, as you can sorta tel what the ships you DON’T own are like and use them accordingly.

3. Machine Guns: Don’t fire willy-nilly

Machine guns are the basic arms of almost every ship in Moon Breakers, having no long cooldown time, however they DO have a overheat limit. If you constantly fire, your machine guns will slow to a crawl, and you won’t be able to dispense delicious DPS when you really need it.

4. Rockets: Put the ‘dumb’ in dumb fire

I don’t know if it’s just me, but rockets out of all the secondaries (I’ve played with thus far) are the hardest to aim. They fire (in relation to the Mamba, and guessing from art I’m assuming other rocket-firers) from the nose of the craft, and move literally strait on from there unitl they reach thier fuel limit. While it does mean they’re situational, firing a rocket when an enemy is closing in front of you (especially when playing ‘chicken’ with fighter class ships) is better then a mutual-destruction suicide, as at least then you survive.

5. Keep an eye on mission objectives

Some missions don’t always require a bomber attacking the carrier. In Search and Destroy and Capture the Flag, the Rhino more or less just makes you easy kill points unless you’re trying to destroy turrets. Switch to something else, especially in Search and Destroy, to be less detrimental to your team.

6. Know your range

The yellow box you see on a ship in your reticule? That means the ship is in range of at least one of your weapons onboard. However, some ship secondaries can entirely outrange the primaries, and give you false readings. Give yourself a quick refresher on the ship’s range before you fly off into battle.

7. Maneuverability is key.

Always wonder why the Rhino winds up dying so fast? Because it’s a slow-as-all-heck ship, the Rhino is easy to pick off. Meanwhile, higher-level Mambas can walk the floor and get high killmarks because they can out-maneuver their foes. Every time you slow down in enemy territory, you’re a sitting duck for Rockets and other weapons.

8. Save some fuel.

It’s fun to use the booster to get right into the thick of it, however then when you need it you’re booster is out and you’re screwed. Try to save at least 1/3 to 1/2 of your fuel tank to do tactical maneuvers in dogfights, it could help you out of a jam.

—L. Fighter Specifics—

-F3 Mamba-
Weapon loadout: Machine Guns + Rockets
Best utilized: Swarm Fighter, Interception Bomber, Ganker
Strengths: Burst Damage, High Maneuverability, Fast Afterburn
Weaknesses: Low Shields, Laughable Starting Stats
Suggested Upgrade Priorities: Engine, Shielding, Magazine, Shield Regenerator, Fuel Pump

The starting fighter craft, the Mamba is relatively average for a light fighter, having no special tricks beyond it’s relatively high maneuverability thanks to acceleration and it’s afterburn speed. However, it’s really weak in comparison to all it’s other stats, such as it’s overheat for machine guns and shield level. Upgrades naturally help, but even then the Mamba is a glass cannon, maneuverable but requires time to recover after it’s lightning fast attack run.

One role I found the Mamba at it’s finest when it is guarding carriers during Carrier Assault, as it’s enhanced maneuverability allows it to run circles (literally) around Rhinos and other bombers, intercept torpedoes, and take on bolder fighters aiming for ship turrets.

As for the assault, Mambas work best when they’re either attacking from another direction or swarming other targets, as pilots can take advantage of maneuverability and peck at a target like bees in a coordinated strike. Or, a solo Mamba can instead swoop in on a distracted enemy pilot from above or below, blindsiding them for either the kill or assist in a ganking maneuver, especially possible thanks to the Mamba’s small size able to maneuver through cover pieces easily and making it easy to hide until it’s too late.

It should also be noted that while coming out of a boost or moving at max throttle at Level 3 Speed+, the Mamba has a slight drift to it turning, which is something not many other pilots tend to notice, and could easily scoot you out of reticle as you get in position for another pass. Use it to your advantage, say to slide into cover, and you got a deadly surprise technique.

-F3-X Sidewinder-
To Come

-M3 Cobra-
To Come

-M10 Krait-
To Come

-V-66 Viper-
To Come

—M. Fighter Specifics—

-FM-25 Nighthawk-
To Come

-G5 Kingfisher-
To Come

-X99 Merlin-
Weapon loadout: Machine Guns + SL guided Missiles
Best utilized: Escort Fighter, Interceptor, Hunter
Strengths: High Burst Damage, Good shielding, Excellent agility
Weaknesses: Average turn speed, average close-quarter combatant
Suggested Upgrade Priorities: Engine, booster, Fuel Pump, Magazine, Shielding, Shield Regenerator

The strongest medium fighter available, akin to the P-51D Mustang of 2nd World War. The x99 ‘Merlin’ boasts excellent maneuverability, high burst damage, and topped with a good shield that protects it from most damage. It is the pinnacle of medium fighters, and on the hands of a talented pilot a single x99 could take down a carrier solo with its machine guns. Fully upgrading the x99 is a must if you wish to see its full potential and capability to chase, destroy, outrun and outmaneuver almost everything the enemy might throw at you.

The x99 is an excellent escort fighter for its capability to take down targets extremely fast with either its SL guided missiles or its machine guns. It is also capable of handling dogfights at medium to short range; topped with its agility and maneuverability, it can avoid most sure-death engagements with a quick booster and a little ‘hugging’ on any available terrain.

Despite of this, the x99 is not as capable of a close-combat fighter to the likes of the Mambas or the light fighters. It is not recommended to turn and face light fighters when being engaged by 1-2; doing so could result to your untimely demise as lights are still capable to circle-strafe the x99. When engaged in numbers, it is advised to pull out of the fight and pick off straggling fighters one by one instead of trying to engage them all at once, or engage targets at medium range and take them down before they turn to you and eat you for breakfast.

Lastly, the x99 ‘Merlin’ does not have that ‘drift’ the Mamba or most light fighters has. It flies like a regular starfighter, which means no more ‘drift turns’ after boosting with the x99.

—H. Fighter Specifics—

-FH-90 Stingray-
To Come

-FH-100 Hammerhead-
To Come

-FH-200 Piranha-
To Come

-A-89 Barracuda-
To Come

-FH-250 Swordfish-
To Come

—Bomber Specifics—

-B-7 Rhino-
Weapon loadout: Machine Guns + Nuclear Torpedo
Best utilized: Carrier Assault Craft, Distraction
Strengths: Large Shields, Fast Regen, High MG Heat Limit
Weaknesses: Abysmal Maneuverability, Reliance on Escorts
Suggested Upgrade Priorities: Engine, Boost Speed, Fuel Pump, Fuel Tank, Torpedo Fuel

Much like the Mamba, the Rhino has somewhat abysmal stats in comparison to later-tier craft, and has a specific role to play instead of the Mamba, specifically designed for scoring hits on Carriers with it’s Nukes. Relatively slow and cumbersome, the Rhino is best used when escorted, having no real feasible way to shake off enemies behind it without outside intrusion.

The best course of action of using a Rhino is for assaulting Carriers, as a result it’s the go-to ship for scoring in Carrier Assaults. The Rhino’s torpedo is slow, meaning they can be shot out by turrets and MG using ships rather easily, meaning the best way to deliver torpedo payloads is close up to the ship. You may need to have your allies clear you a path to the carrier first, which means you’ll probably need escorts to be the most effective.

Upon reaching the enemy ship, try your best to evade incoming fire from both any remaining turrets and other players, and keep dispensing bombs until you are destroyed. Longranged bombing is ill-advised, thanks to the fragility of the warheads making them easy to destroy before they reach the intended target.

-B-10T Timberwolf-
To Come

-B-10G Grizzy-
To Come

-H4B Bison-
To Come

-B-10X Panther-
Weapon loadout: Fast Cannons + Advanced Nuclear Torpedo
Best utilized: Carrier Assault Craft, Distraction, Tanking
Strengths: Extremely Large Shields, Fast Regen, maneuverable (for a bomber), fast (for a bomber)
Weaknesses: Low Maneuverability, Low MG heat limit, Reliance on Escorts, big moving target
Suggested Upgrade Priorities: Armor, Armor-regen, Engine, Boost Speed, Fuel Pump, Fuel Tank, Torpedo Fuel

Without upgrades, the B-10X Panther is best used with escorts. Despite its speed, armor, and armament, it is still a terrible dog-fighter (understandable). The B-10X is an excellent anti-carrier bomber with its cannon which could quickly disable turrets and drain health points relatively quick. Like all bombers, it is designed for scoring hits to carriers with its nukes, so avoid engagement with any form of fighter regardless of how weak they are.

Despite having carried ‘advanced nuclear torpedo’, attacking carriers at range is still ill-advised. The advanced torpedo is relatively faster to that of the regular, but it still takes 5 seconds to arm and can still be shot down with relative ease. Its cannon can wreak significant havoc on enemy carriers if you manage to fly around for about a minute or so while dispensing it. Again, this is limited due to the low MG heat limit.

The good thing about the B-10X ‘Panther’ is its extremely high armor and fast shield regeneration. The ‘Panther’ can easily act as a ‘flying shield’ for the torpedo, and when pursued by Mambas or other fighters the shielding of the B-10X gives enough time for the pilot to finish a ‘Hail Mary’ before dying under fire. It’s a bomber, deal with it. Avoid enemy fighters at all cost.