Who this is for: If you know how to play the game, but are not an expert, this strategy guide is for you.
Before going into tactics, I will discuss two very important points.
Aggressiveness vs. Foolishness: There is a difference between being aggressive and being foolish, and that difference is the risk/reward ratio. Figure out the potential reward of your actions and decide whether it justifies the risk. Waiting until 0 range to phaser/cloak at the risk of being hit is usually worth the risk. You are taking a small risk for the potential to do more damage. Overwarping in an RBOP on a fully powered II-A is not. You are taking a huge risk in a strategy that has little chance of succeeding. Aggressiveness will put you ahead in a fight, foolishness will simply get you damaged(and killed).
The loser is the one who makes the last mistake: Mistakes are extremely common in mtrek. They are the reason you will win and the reason you will lose. A good strategy will make it more likely that your opponent makes mistakes, and make your opponent's mistakes deadlier. At the same time, it will prevent your mistakes from being fatal. Once you master tactics, the next step is mastering strategy. You MUST develop good strategic skills to enter the mtrek elite.
Tip - Your strategies must be realistic, rather than idealistic.
Staying in range: A very important strategy in mtrek is to stay at a specific range, say 400-700. If you are able to do this, you have the power to decide when to back up to fire torpedoes and when to run at your target and phaser. Now you have the ability to surprise your opponent.
There are two main ways to do this. The first method is to stop at the ideal range and wait. You then either run at the ship or back off, whichever is necessary to keep the range. You can also decide to turn rather than stop. This makes it easier to defend against mines/plasma/etc. I prefer the latter method.
Defense - When defending your ship, you have two choices. Run or fight. Often, running is impossible, and an attempt at it will get you killed. In this case, your only choice is to fight off your opponent. Remember, the best defense is often a good offense.
The best way to defend against a torpedo attack is called the "surprise-attack". Run from your attacker, and just before he gets into range, intercept him and fire torpedoes. At this point you can either cloak or run at your attacker. Once cloaking, you can either turn and run away from your attacker, or you can decloak near your attacker. Example: if you're a KEV fighting a Larson, you might want to decloak at about 700 range.
If possible, try counting the ticks(the game updates that occur every 1/4 of a second). If you run at your attacker just before the next tick starts, he will have no time to react. This takes a bit of practice.
Another option is to be purely defensive. Take a photon torpedo hit to your shields(to waste their torpedoes), and cloak/turn/run(to regenerate your shields). Avoid hitting mines and phasers. Example: If you're fighting a Larson in a KEV, you will be able to eat its torpedoes and end up alive.
Offense - When firing your torpedoes, you often have a choice of either trying to get them off quickly, or carefully making sure you do maximum damage. If you are too slow, the ship may repair as fast as you are doing damage, wasting your torpedoes. It depends on the situation, but when using photons, I usually have the most success when I am careful about when I fire. But if you are not yet unable to do this quickly, you may want to try a different strategy.
You also must counter your opponent's defensive tactics. Basically, there are two main ways to defeat the surprise-attack. 1) the backup-intercept - Chase your target, and constantly run from him just before you get into his torpedo range. Then you can surprise him when you go in for the kill. 2) stop just outside of your opponent's torpedo range, giving you time to react to your opponent.
Take advantage of your ship's torpedo range, while avoiding the torpedo range of your opponent. For example, if you are a KPB fighting an excel, you may want to overwarp past the Excel's torpedo range to a point where the excel can't hurt you.
Tip - Put "\033t" after your torpedo macros. This will tell you how many torpedoes you have left.
Defense - Use the surprise-attack to defend against phasers. Unexpectedly run at your opponent in an attempt to hit at 0 range. If low on energy, you might want to limit yourself to using only half of your potential phaser power, or you could end up too low on energy to survive.
Offense - Be unpredictable, and try to hit at 0 range. The reward of hitting at 0 is usually worth the risk of getting hit, though it depends on the ship class of you and your opponent, the skill of you and your opponent, and each ship's damage.
It is important to note that it is sometimes worth forcing your opponent to fire their phasers. If they fire full phasers and are subsequently damaged, they may not even have enough power to even move. In my RBOP, I have gotten CL-13s to under -50 power available(that's right, minus 50). Tip - A 5 power wide phaser burst will tell you how close a cloaked ship is to you. The more damage the phaser does, the closer the ship is.
Mines are very easy to destroy, just use a "O.\014Pp" macro to phaser the nearest object.
One important point about mines is that they don't fire until the start of the next tick, when your opponent may have already moved. If your opponent is not moving, the macro "@-.2\riiM" will hit anywhere between 50-250 range. But this is not the case if he is moving.
If your opponent is running from you, you must mine at a closer range, or the ship will pass your mine before it's fired. If you are being chased, you must fire the mine at a longer range, or it will miss. For example, if a RBOP fires a mine at a pursuing br5 at around 500 range, the BR will have virtually no chance to react. But if the RBOP tries to fire at 150 range, the br5 will pass the mine before it hits.
Tip - To avoid mines, try using the surprise-attack to pass your attacker's mine range. Then, if possible, cloak/turn/run.
If you're the attacker, you might try to go in for the mine at an unexpected time. To do this, you can stop just outside mine range to buy time, fool your opponent with the backup/intercept, or use the turn/intercept. Or, of course, you can use a combination of the three.
If you are the faster ship, It's possible to get to 0 range, phaser, and mine, while being too close for your opponent to mine you. Possible defenses against this include 1) overwarping to get into mine range, and 2) firing a mine and running towards it at warp 5-6, in an attempt to hit your attacker as he is intercepting you.
The Fundamental Rule Of Plasma - Keep your plasma unlocked. This way, you can control the direction of the plasma. Use a u instead of \014 in your torpedo macros (such as "uTt]\033t" or "uTt[\033t").
Dodging Plasma - There are basically three methods of avoiding plasma, all of which you should use.
The first strategy is to simply turn your ship with a macro such as "}HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHKKKKLL"(if you use only H's or J's, you could be caught with the 0'90 rule. The rule is this: if you're at 0'90, An attempt to turn sideways is ineffective). This strategy is particularly effective when chasing plasma ships.
The second strategy is to dodge the plasma itself. I don't have a specific macro for this. Instead, I back up from the nearest object with a "{O.ii[" macro, and then turn my ship with the aforementioned turning macro. This is particularly useful when you are very close to plasma.
The third strategy is only useful when a plasma has recently be fired. A plasma takes 4 seconds to initiate(i.e., it won't detonate before those 4 seconds). If a plasma is fired very close to you, you can run at and pass a plasma before it initiates.
Hitting with plasma - People generally hit plasma by mistake. Your job as the plasma chucker is to make it easy for your opponent to accidentally hit plasma. You will want to try to fire plasma at the right range, try to surround your opponent with plasma, and if possible, try to distract your opponent from the plasma.
When I am at 0 range from my opponent, one of the strategies I use is a macro to back up from my own plasma "{O.ii[" . This is an attempt to catch my opponent in a plasma net. Another strategy is to use "turned" plasma to catch your target when he dodges. You need to find your own strategies, but whatever you do, make sure you get your opponent close to initiated plasma.
Note that you may have the chance to mine/phaser while your opponent is focused on avoiding your plasma.
There are two plasma macros I have found quite useful, especially for the CV-97. The first is the plasma-group. Make the macro "@0\ruTt\0...@9.6\r". This macro will cause your ship to travel at the speed of your plasma, allowing you to build up a wall of plasma around your ship. The second is the reverse-plasma. Make the macro "}ii]@0\rHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHuTti[\033t" This will fire a plasma running at about warp -10, and then cause you to run at maximum warp. When a ship is chasing you, the plasma is running from them, and thus it can hit at closer range(remember the 4 second initiation for plasma).
Drones: Like mines, drones are easy to destroy. And like plasma, drones take several seconds to initiate. But if you run back into drones your battle has left behind, there is a good chance they will hit your attacker.
Hitting with mines and phasers should be your first priority. If you don't, you'll have a hard time killing anything. If I get to 0 range, I often phaser/cloak first, and mine after.
After firing your torpedoes, you may have trouble getting in mine/phaser range without getting hit by your opponent's torpedoes. So cloak just outside of their torpedo range. If your opponent stops to repair, you may be able to get close enough under cloak to mine/phaser.
To transwarp into an opponent's ship - 1)Press the macro "@4\r\033l" 2)Wait until the moment the transwarp countdown hits 1, the second before transwarp is engaged 3)Type the letter designation of the ship you want to transwarp into
You may want to make a torp/overwarp macro, such as "@0\r\014TTTTtii@17\r\033t"
As with any ship without a cloaking device, an excel is always in weapons range.
It is possible to put the "brakes" on transwarp. In transwarp, if you press the [ key, you will slow down to about warp 19.
Unfortunately, you will sometimes have to use the purely defensive strategy I outlined in the photon/obliterator torpedo section. Example: If you are fighting a cloaked RBOP, use up their mines by allowing them to hit you, and immediately regenerate shields by cloaking/turning/running. Or if you are fighting an II-A, try to waste their torpedoes while avoiding mines at all costs.
One strategy I use against RBOPs is to move in a square while dodging plasma. This creates a mass of drones that the RBOP may hit.
Be warned that certain combinations of ships, such as an II-A/Larson team, can kill even the very best KEVs. You have to be very careful in this ship, don't stray too far from a starbase.
When fighting a br5, make sure you don't miss your mines. Destroy with torpedoes as he flees. One strategy to help you avoid a br5's torpedoes: chase at the br5. When he runs into his torpedo range, back off into your own torpedo range. Then when it runs at you, just as he starts hitting you with torps, intercept the him. He will have a harder time hitting you.
Be aware that just after you fire full phasers, you are only able to go warp 3 under cloak. And that is at full power.
You will sometimes need to use defensive strategies similar to those used by the KEV. But the CV is much more powerful than the KEV in these situations. For instance, it can fire a plasma at a cloaked II-A, and then plasma-bolt as the II-A is forced to decloak. Or it can fire a plasma-group to prevent a RBOP from getting too close.
Well there you have it. For obvious reasons, I left out some of my more advanced strategies. But I hope this guide was helpful.