With the Championship for 2018 over I've decided to share the ships and tactics I had developed for it. In contrast to last tourneys where I went with many strategies, I instead developed and practiced for a single which which was dual 750k cannon walls. This attempt got me to 2nd, so I have definitely learned something this time! I'll be leaving competitive for now and will be pursuing modding and lore building for the time being.
Ships
Leopard & Cougar
Inspired by Nop's performance in the December Tournament, I decided to pursue a fast moving and light design at 750k that can cooperate in pairs to trap and dance around opponents. These ships used 3 engine modules with 6 buffed huge engines on each that are slightly under-crewed to save costs. The cannon modules on each are double shielded and I started experimenting in incorporating EB to these modules. These ships ended up being more on the aesthetic side with a theme surrounding Big Cats and I think they look the part!
Cheetah
Similar in most ways to the past ships but with a cannon module swapped for another thrust module rather than the previous 3, however due to excess armor if is weighed down too much to be too fast.
Carcinogen
This one gets close to my final designs with a traditional thrust layout usually seen on a 1mil fast small cannon wall. It's armor once again weighs it down as I am left with an odd amount of money, too little to buy another module, but enough so spending it all on armor and struts weighs me down.
Alchemy & Infusion
These wonderful ships served me very well in the Championship and got me further than older designs would have. Similar to the Carcinogen in engine layout and concept, but different with triple shielding taking up the remaining credits rather than heavy armor. The remaining armor, however light, saves me from many encounters.
Tactics
When using a 750k duo, you need to know how to play against different enemy setups. You are usually either sandwiching the enemy between two of you ships, or using them as regular modern SC walls. As long as you have about equal thrust in all directions, you should move around with strafing to avoid having to rotate your ship every time you move. Keep in mind that play styles can and will different between players and all ships are different. Stay flexible and adaptive.
Against a single 1.5mil
Starting off, your goal is to have two ships on opposite sides of the enemy. While moving to the angles, you want to keep both ships out of range and avoid being hit. Do not worry about you angle relative to the enemy's direction. I would advise having grid-relative attack angles with a hotkey such as tab set to prefer ship-relative attack angles.
Once you have reached opposite angles, charge both ships in as fast as possible and ram the enemy on both sides. You can pull out and differ timings but try to keep opposite angles at all times. Aim for reactors in the enemy's thrust modules. Once the enemy is ridden of most of it's thrust, you can orbit the ship and pick it clean of control rooms.
Another tactic involves sacrificing one ship and leaving the other. The idea is to fight the enemy to the edge of the RoD and then move one ship to the center of the map. Keep the remaining ship engaged with the large ship and bait the larger ship out of the RoD. if the enemy makes a break for the center of the map, hit their back or attempt to make it in before they do and continue the fight with both ships.
Against a 1mil and 500k
You most often get this set up from players who do not build for 1.5 mil, so it is worth know how to combat this setup. Start off by sending one ship to the 500k, and the other to the 1mil. The ship that heads to the 1mil should stay out of range and keep the ship busy by circling it and doing a bit of ballet without engaging, The other ship should attack the 500k with traditional orbiting tactics. If help is need taking out the 500k you should send the distracting ship to ram the 500k and take it out as soon as possible. After this you must combat the 1mil as you would a 1.5 mil.
Against two 750ks
This is likely the hardest situation and requires you to play just like any other avoider pair. It is possible to draw out one ship before sending both together to 2v1 but this may not be possible against other faster ships. The best option is to remain flexible and adaptive while finding the best approach to give you the upper hand as early as possible.
Against three 500ks
Similar to fighting 750ks, you'll want to pair up against a single ship to take it out with the least amount of damage possible. Unlike 750ks you have the upper hand in a 1v1 but having both ships in 1v1s would leave a remaining un-attended enemy that may be able to flank you so stay alert.
Against a swarm
The best approach to combating swarms, no matter the price, is to keep them scattered and unorganized. This will leave the swarm weaker as they are not able to surround a ship and flaunt their main advantages. The best way to do this is to ram through the field of enemy swarm ships at full speed and taking out any ships that get caught on you. Rinse and repeat until the enemy has too few ships spread too thin to surround you.
Anyways, I had fun with competitive this year and I hope to jump back in once things get a bit spicy!