Ship Details (Part 7)

Ship Details (Part 7)

Corsair

Strong against: None in particular
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Rocket Pods

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Slow, then Medium
• Reload Time = Medium
• 10 successive sets of 2 side-by-side slowly accelerating forward firing rockets
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): D-
Survivability (Community Missions): D-

• (-) Absolutely no defence at all.
• (-) Poor turret popping capability since the Rocket Pods are slow moving and difficult to handle.
  • The Tracking Minigun also has a slight spread, which makes it a bit difficult to pop turrets with.
• (+) Pretty fast charging Tracking Minigun Zen.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A

• (-) Because of having absolutely no defence, Corsair relies purely on throwing out as much damage as it possibly can.
• Ironically, the Tracking Minigun and MS are actually the main form of damage for Corsair. The Rocket Pods are simply nothing more than supporting damage.
• (-) The Tracking Minigun and MS are competing damage means.
• Thus, always aim to have the Tracking Minigun going as much as possible.
• In early Acts, the Tracking Minigun can last as long as 2.5 - 3 waves of an Act.
  • This also means that when the next Act starts, the charging duration of Tracking Minigun would be quite long due to insufficient time to cool down.
• (+) To allow Tracking Minigun to go again for the next Act, a very good idea is to instead use MS (and also, a bit of the Rocket Pods on the way) to fully eliminate the first wave of an Act.
  • While the MS is clearing off the wave, go back downfield and then charge the Tracking Minigun.
  • The Tracking Minigun would fire in time just as the next wave arrives, keeping up Corsair's DPS.
  • This strategy also slightly de-conflicts the competing damaging means between Tracking Minigun and MS.
• To maximize DPS from the Tracking Minigun, sweep invaders from left to right (or vice versa), so that it's easier to re-align the Tracking Minigun to the invader in front of you easily.
  • Even after dodging rapidly, try your best to keep as close by circling back to as close as where you were, but closer to the other side.
  • For example, if you were sweeping from left to right, but dodging forced you to dodge underneath downfield, then try to do an anti-clockwise motion where you would rotate around approximately 270° instead of just 180°.
• (-) Lots of dodging around, including looking for the tiniest possible gap to dodge through.
  • If it's not possible to dodge through, a good strategy is to circle around the invader.
  • This technique particularly applies to larger invaders like Condors and Rocs
• (-) The Tracking Minigun has a pretty strange charge duration which is unlike any other Zen. At the start of any Act, when the words start to exit the screen, you can then start charging your minigun such that the Tracking Minigun's DPS is not wasted.
• Use MS as often as you can. When using MS, go to the center of the field to release MS, and then go back to where you were previously to maximize MS coverage
• It may be even justifiable to charge the Tracking Minigun in the last wave of an Act if the wave is heavy enough, and you are running quite low on MS. This is because you can simply use the strategy of using MS to finish off the first wave of the next Act.
• When facing off against a Condor, it is beneficial to try and get off a Tracking Minigun mid-wave if the Condor isn't more than half down on health, even if the Tracking Minigun have just ended at the end of the last wave. Condors take pretty long to take down.
• Against a Roc, 2 Tracking Miniguns can be pulled off successfully.
• Ignore the interruptible burst nature of the Rocket Pods. In fact, the Rocket Pods are not the main focus for Corsair.
• However, if the Tracking Minigun ends just before the end of like a wave, it would be more beneficial to use the Rocket Pods to finish off the wave, if your MS is too big of an Aura to waste away. This would give you time to charge Tracking Minigun for the next wave.
• In the final wave, if the wave is dense and/or heavy enough, even if the Tracking Minigun has just ended its run at the end of the last wave, you should try to charge it one last time for a final increase in DPS.
• (+) If you need to quickly pop off some deadly turrets, the most reliable way is to use MS barrel against these turrets.

Fun Factor: S

• (+) The Tracking Minigun is very fun to watch in action, watching the minigun itself turn towards its targets.
• (+) The activation of the Tracking Minigun is a sound that really triggers an increase in adrenaline as you will just know that "It's GO time!"
• (+) Despite being an FO ship that is not particularly powerful, Corsair is just a ship that is really fun to speedrun with.
• (-) Difficult to use Rocket Pods. But it honestly doesn't really matter since it doesn't do much in damage anyway.
  • Even in early waves, the bulk of the damage comes from the Tracking Minigun instead.
• (+) Easy to use Tracking Minigun, and easy to aim with.
• (+) Lots and lots of fast dodging with Corsair.
• (+) Just throwing out every damage means you have is just a ton of fun.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Corsair were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Corsair was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v2.4.
• The Sigma Apex of Corsair, being a rather well known apex, is sometimes referred to Sigsair in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Corsair is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD.
• Here's how Corsair looks like in Phoenix HD:
  
• Corsair is asymmetrical, unlike most ships. The mount on the left side is the tracking laser while the one on the right is its tracking minigun.
• Corsair's Zen is unique.
• The Corsair in Phoenix HD is faithfully replicated in Phoenix 2. In Phoenix HD, Corsair fires a huge assortment of weapons. Corsair's main weapon Rocket Pods in Phoenix 2 are the exact faithful replication of the forward accelerating missiles in Phoenix HD. The curvy missiles that are launched in a fanned out manner in Phoenix HD is equivalent to the current Missile Swarm Aura ability of Corsair in Phoenix 2. The minigun in Phoenix HD is also replicated as the Tracking Minigun, although the Phoenix 2 version tracks rather than simply firing forward in Phoenix HD. Lastly, the barrage missiles when Corsair locks on to a turret in Phoenix HD are also replicated in the ult upgrade of Tracking Minigun, although the barrage missiles are not straight firing but have a slight curvy pattern to them.
• Ships in Phoenix 2 no longer have descriptions, but since Corsair was brought over from Phoenix HD, the description given to Corsair in Phoenix HD is: Missile cruiser with the special ability to lock on turrets for an extra deadly barrage. This description is actually quite accurate even in Phoenix 2 since the Tracking Minigun does lock onto turrets. However, in Phoenix HD, you have to manually lock on turrets by standing under it for about 3 seconds. This is unlike in Phoenix 2 where the Tracking Minigun locks onto a turret by itself.
• The minigun on the right side of Corsair is initially not present in gameplay when you first unlock Corsair. This is also reflected when you first unlock it in the warp gate, or receive a main / Aura upgrade to Corsair with the Zen not unlocked. The tracking minigun only appears in gameplay after you unlock its Zen.
• Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Sigma Apex of Corsair was teased on the Instagram page of Firi Games:
  
• Sigma Corsair's tracking railgun was buffed in v4.0.1, shortly after the release of apexes in v4.0. The buff increases the damage of each railgun shot without increasing the firing rate.
• In anywhere except in gameplay, the minigun/railgun is not present even if you unlocked it. Getting Corsair's apexes also do not show their minigun/railgun on the apexes. This is a bug in which the devs have said requires some special handling which they have not had the time to fix yet.
• The shell casings for the minigun (left) and the railgun (right) are different, the shell casing for the railgun is bigger (and less frequent, obviously, since the fire rate of the railgun is lower)
  
• You can also view some additional renders and versions on Corsair in the following link: https://www.behance.net/gallery/2423450/Corsair
• Corsair is featured in an old video preview for Phoenix 2, appearing at 7s.
• Corsair even has its own shorts video released by Firi Games.
• In an early pre-alpha version of Corsair in Phoenix 2 which was never released but teased in Firi Game's FaceBook, it re-used the old model from Phoenix HD:
  

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Apexes

Sigma (Railgun) - ¢35.000

Value: S-
Cost vs Utility: S

This apex turns its Tracking Minigun Zen into a Tracking Railgun, which fires at a slower rate. The total raw damage (disregarding any damage made from a second or subsequent hit for any single railgun shot) is reduced from 210 to 180, with 30 railgun shots, translating to 6 damage per shot. However, each shot pierces through invaders like VL.

Survivability (Daily Missions): D [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): D [+]

• (+) Able to deal against upfield invaders where it was previously not possible. Ravens in particular, are much easier to deal with.
• (+) Disarms upfield invaders if aimed at certain angles, which is normally not possible with the Tracking Minigun.
• (-) A bit less capable to deal against heavier waves since the damage isn't focused downfield to clear out the downfield invaders to allow for more maneuvering space.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S- [++]

• (+) Less damage competition between MS and Tracking Railgun.
  • MS deals against downfield invaders while Tracking Railgun primarily deals against upfield invaders.
• (+) Helps against dense waves a lot, significantly.
• (+) Makes Corsair much more versatile in dealing damage, since it now does both piercing and single target damage.
• (-) A bit less capable to deal against heavier waves since the damage isn't focused downfield to clear out the downfield invaders to allow for more maneuvering space.
• (-) A bit harder to handle the Tracking Railgun since it's not a continuous stream of bullets and the railgun shots aren't as visible as a stream of minigun bullets, so it can be a bit more difficult to direct the Tracking Railgun properly.
• (+) Against Condors and Rocs, the Tracking Railgun can actually deal more damage than the Tracking Minigun since most railgun shots actually are considered to have hit the Condor or Roc twice (usually once on the hull or the cockpit, and another on a turret). If most shots hit twice, the DPS of the Tracking Railgun actually exceeds that of the Tracking Minigun.

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

• (+) A different, unique charging sound of the Tracking Railgun, which sounds more cool than the Tracking Minigun.
• (+) Piercing damage is awesome.
• (-) A bit more difficult to handle the Tracking Railgun since it doesn't fire so frequently and is more difficult to see the railgun shots.

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Tau (MS High Explosive) - ¢40.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): D- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): D- [No significant change]

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [+]

• (+) Gains some AoE damage from MS High Explosive, which helps out in denser waves.

Fun Factor: S [No change]

• (=) Given Corsair's already rather high damage output, it's quite difficult to feel the effects of this apex properly.
• It's more of a "nice to have" apex than one that's really needed, just to feel like you can go a tiny bit faster, which matters a lot for FO ships.

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Antioch

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV

Ship Class: Offensive
+

Main Weapon: Proton Crystallizer

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Target Tracking = Limited
• Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Fast
• Single file of projectiles that fire in a general forward direction, with a slight angle deviance (approximate maximum deviance is 15°) from the vertical as determined by the target tracked
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): A
Survivability (Community Missions): A

• (-) The Proton Crystallizer seems to like to troll players a lot. It has slight tracking properties, but does NOT have homing properties. That means that once a projectile of the Proton Crystallizer is fired, it goes in a straight line, but Antioch TRIES to fire it in the direction of the target it is aiming at.
  • This is especially when you are very near to 2 target points, which include anything from turrets, cockpits and even the sides of a Vulture or larger.
• To maximize the tracking property of the Proton Crystallizer, do not line up yourself with smaller invaders such as Herons and below.
  • Instead, aim slightly left or right of them. The Proton Crystallizer will then track the outermost turret and you can then slightly closer to hit the invader.
• (=) The tracking properties of Antioch can help and hinder in turret popping.
  • On one hand, if you managed to target the correct turret, then you have some tolerance and can do some small dodging.
  • On the other hand, if the Proton Crystallizer targets the wrong turret, then you have to swipe across that turret you intended to aim at, enough so that you don't aim any other turret further than that intended turret.
• (+) Even if the Proton Crystallizer doesn't have the right plans, VL is always a good backup to pop off turrets, since you can throw one VL and then slowly sweep across the turret to take it down.
  • VL is a very good solution to pop off dangerous turrets quickly.
  • Just a pity that it's still quite difficult to pop off difficult-to-reach turrets.
• (-) Because of this tracking system of the Proton Crystallizer however, it is near impossible for the Proton Crystallizer to target difficult-to-reach turrets.
• (+) The tracking properties of the Proton Crystallizer allows you to target Sparrows quite safely. This is especially since getting underneath Sparrows can kill you by being shot point blank. Also useful against Sparrows with lasers equipped.
• (-) Problem is, the Proton Crystallizer projectiles aren't exactly that fast so Sparrows can escape quite easily. For reliable Sparrow hunting, you have to go near them, but at least you don't have to be right underneath them and risk getting shot point blank.
• (+) No problem against lasers. Let them come find you, then just use PS to reflect them back at invaders.
• (+) Even if you don't like the lasers at the moment because PS is still cooling down, VL will quickly take out laser turrets especially on Ravens quickly.
• (+) Not really weak against shurikens since you can either use PS Phase Out to get past some shurikens, or just simply ride up the VL to escape them.
• Generally, use VL to eliminate Ravens but reserve it for dangerous turrets where needed.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+

• (+) PS for great counter offence damage in laser heavy waves.
• In the presence of waves that are less laser heavy, sweep with VL first.
• If there are many lasers on field (a good general guide is more than 10 lasers), hold off VLs, until the first round of laser reflects.
  • But use VL to take out useless Ravens that either have useless T1 or T2 laser turrets only, or have other turrets that don't help out in laser reflection damage.
  • A Raven with 2 lasers that can be reflected back is still worth keeping around.
• To destroy Sparrows quickly, go right up to them but offset diagonally to one side to ensure they can be destroyed quickly.
• For Ravens, try to get closer to them, and aim for either of their turrets rather than their cockpits, because it is difficult to determine if the tracking wants to target the left or right turret of a Raven if you aim for their cockpits.
• Use VLs opportunistically. No need to rush to exhaust the VLs if there are other larger invaders around that still need the Proton Crystallizer to clean up.

Fun Factor: A

• (-) A very troll and annoying Proton Crystallizer.
  • Sometimes when shooting invaders, for no reason the Proton Crystallizer will suddenly veer off to the other side, because it thinks the other target point is nearer.
  • This is due to invader RNG movement.
• (+) VL is fun to use for sure. Easy to do VL sweeps.
• (+) Fun to use PS to reflect lasers in laser heavy missions.
• (=) Average Proton Crystallizer impact sounds.
• (=) Quite manageable ship core position, since it's in the middle of the chevron shape of Antioch.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Antioch were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Antioch was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v2.5.
• Antioch is VERY SLIGHTLY asymmetrical. If you zoom in to the left and right bottom edges of Antioch, the black line on the left side has some reflective glare on it, while the black line on the right side does NOT have the reflective glare on it.
• The Delta Apex of Antioch, being one of the slightly more popular apexes, is sometimes referred to Deltioch in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Delta Apex of Antioch was teased:
  
• Antioch is one of the only ships in the game whose main weapon has a very mild tracking capability.
• While much less visible, Antioch is featured in the cover banner of the Phoenix 2 FaceBook page. It can be identified by its thrusters in the background, below Exarch. Only a brief silhouette of Antioch can only be seen.
  

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Apexes

Delta (VL Twin Lance) - ¢20.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: S

Survivability (Daily Missions): A [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): A [No significant change]

• (+) Easier to use VL as defence since VL riding is easier.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S- [++]

• (+) Easier to catch pesky Ravens that like to run away from VLs.
• (+) Also catches more Sparrows along the way, eliminating the need to go right up to them to take them out.
• (+) Potentially one less VL to lance sweep a wave.

Fun Factor: A+ [+]

• (+) Less need to chase down annoying Sparrows with the annoying Proton Crystallizer.
• (+) Less frustration in Ravens running away, thus easier VL lineups.

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Beta (VL High Capacity) - ¢10.000

Value: C+
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): A [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): A [No significant change]

• (+) Useful in heavier waves such as 4 Eagle formations where separation of the Eagles are quite likely.
  • You can thus stockpile and then quickly kill or weaken the Eagles significantly.
• (+) Sometimes useful in laser heavy missions if you prefer to just stand back and let PS do most of the damage work for you.
  • Then just use 5 VLs to wipe out a wave quickly here and there and you can get to reflecting lasers again.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [No change]

Fun Factor: A [No change]

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Uhb

Strong against: Shuriken/MIRV
Weak against: None in particular

Ship Class: Safer-FO
+

Main Weapon: Blast Laser

• Average DPS = 25
• Spread = Narrow
• Target Tracking = Instant
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Fast
• 3 independent instant tracking lasers that can only track up targets up to a maximum angle of approximately 45° from the vertical, but always fire anyway even if it is out of the cone range
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): C-
Survivability (Community Missions): C-

• The Blast Laser has a targeting cone that is approximately -45° to 45° with respect to the vertical.
  • This targeting cone sometimes makes targets hard to hit.
  • The Blast Laser will attempt to hit a target outside its cone.
  • Since the Blast Laser lasts a while, you can shift yourself closer to hit something.
• (-) The lackluster DPS of the Blast Laser, as well as the rapid RNG movement of Sparrows, may allow Sparrows to sneak past the Blast Laser damaged but not destroyed.
• (-) This is on top of the fact that the Blast Laser isn't actually one laser, but 3 independent lasers.
  • The 3 lasers can target different things such as a different turret so you can sometimes quite clearly see the separation.
• (-) Difficult to pop turrets since the targeting nature of the Blast Laser is random.
  • Even targeting cornermost turrets on a Vulture is difficult since the cone range is quite wide.
  • You can sort of force Uhb to target difficult-to-reach turrets on a Condor by being at one side of the Condor, with your ship core diagonally between the 2 easier to reach turrets on the same side.
• Be a bit more downfield with Uhb since the Blast Laser has a limited cone range, so that it can always hit something properly.
• (+) REMP can be used for defence and some offence where comfortable.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+

• (+) Quite a well balanced damage dealer since MS is good raw single target damage, while REMP deals decently well in AoE damage.
• (+) Open up a wave with an REMP (only when there are sufficient Ravens and Sparrows around obviously) at the correct location (go behind larger invaders if you have to)
• After charging REMP, fire off MS.
  • Be careful when firing MS because it is very easy to unintentionally MS barrel on invaders when you don't want to. Be sure to extract yourself slightly away from an invader before firing MS if necessary.
  • This is a very potent combination that can eliminate quite a lot of invaders when opening a wave.
• Finally, head downfield for the Blast Laser to clean up the field.
  • If enough particles are collected, go in yet another time to fire MS.
  • Fire MS as frequently as possible.
  • Some overkill damage is ok since waiting for the Blast Laser to finish the job can be quite painfully slow.
• (+) MS barreling is also a very valid tactic for Uhb to get faster times to finish off the last invader on field, which is useful especially against Herons and Eagles.
  • Start from downfield, then very quickly head up to the target invader to MS barrel to avoid wasting MS Aura.
  • It's ok if there's still 1 or 2 Sparrows on field after that as the Blast Laser can take care of that.
• In early Acts, spam launch small sizes of MS since the Blast Laser damage is lackluster and also quite unreliable.
  • Basically, the Blast Laser is really just supporting damage.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) A well-pulled off REMP + MS combo wrecks crowds very quickly.
• (-) Risk of unintended MS barreling from setting up good positioning for REMP.
• (-) Frustrating to use Blast Laser since small invaders can slip past its aiming.
• (+) Better than average Blast Laser impact sounds.
• (-) Slightly forward ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Uhb were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Uhb was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v2.5.
• Uhb is the only ship that starts with the letter "U".
• Uhb is VERY SLIGHTLY asymmetrical. If you zoom in to the upper half of Uhb, the stain marks on the left and right sides of Uhb are a bit different.
• It was initially thought that the spelling U-H-B was supposed to be some kind of unknown acronym before the v5.0 update, and thus all 3 letters were thought to be UPPER CASE. This was not only because Uhb as a word sounds weird, but all ship names in the game were in UPPER CASE before the v5.0 update. Between the v5.0 and the v6.1.6 update however, the actual casing of the individual letters appear in the shop under the Warp Gate tab, so it is confirmed that only U is capitalized.
• Someone on the Reddit brought up the discussion that Uhb's name is not actually all UPPERCASE, which was how we got to know this fact about Uhb. Some pronunciations of Uhb has also been suggested, such as "Ub" and "chub". The link to this thread is as follows:
  https://redd.it/escxxz

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Apexes

Delta (MS High Explosive) - ¢20.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: S

Survivability (Daily Missions): C- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C- [No significant change]

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [No significant change]

• (+) The close combat fighting style of Uhb makes the MS High Explosive Apex quite potent especially in dense waves where you release MS in the middle, which quickly hits invaders for more AoE damage before they can separate.

Fun Factor: A+ [No significant change]

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Epsilon (REMP Extended Range) - ¢25.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): C [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): C [+]

• (+) Increase in bullet clearance range.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [No significant change]

• (+) Increase in coverage for REMP AoE damage, since it can be quite difficult for Uhb to get up to the middle of the field to deal AoE damage.
• (+) Allows you to stay behind some larger invaders rather than going above them just to have REMP range cover the smaller invaders at the back.
  • This has the advantage of not wasting the Blast Laser's DPS since the rather narrow targeting cone may not allow it to hit some smaller invaders upfield properly.
  • Instead, staying behind a larger invader means being able to optimize the Blast Laser more effectively.

Fun Factor: A+ [No significant change]

• (+) Easier to land Blast Laser while charging REMP just in front of larger invaders instead of being behind them.

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Trinity

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Shuriken/Boomerang, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, General/Boomerang, General, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: None

Ship Class: Double Defence
+

Main Weapon: Warp Ripper

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Infinitely Fast
• 2 side-by-side infinitely fast forward firing projectiles
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): X
Survivability (Community Missions): X

• (+) The capability of CF and TP to protect you from threats so well are just the reasons why Trinity is such an invincible ship. Individually, they are just some of the best defensive Aura and Zen.
• (+) As with most CF ships, CF is generally primarily form of defence.
• (+) Use CF when being unable to dodge bullets.
  • It is a much better option than charging TP since TP charge time is not negligible, which might make you die to boomerangs and darts.
• (+) Use a CF is you need time to decide where is the best spot to go to.
  • Trinity can be a good ship to learn TP as well, since CF is a very good backup.
• (+) Because CF has Phase Out, it's like Trinity has 2 forms of TP since Phase Out also serves the same purpose of being able to re-position yourself at another spot.
  • Just that CF's Phase Out is a "weaker" form of TP since it is a bit harder to direct from you want to go (due to the need to swipe to the location instead of tapping on the location) and it does not clear bullets when you arrive at your new location.
• (+) Deploy CF when lasers are just about to fire. This is much more efficient than using TP to avoid lasers.
  • However, when low on CF Aura, TP can also serve as a backup option.
• (+) TP can be used when you are faced with an incoming thick wall of shurikens. Simply just TP away. Problem solved.
• (+) If you feel like you are being backed into a corner, use TP to go to the other side of the field per usual.
  • Just remember to do it early in General/Boomerang missions because bullets can move very fast.
• (+) Use CF if particles are simply overflowing.
  • Try to deploy CF as centrally as possible.
  • This allows you more flexibility to move around, since you need to aim with Trinity.
• (-) The aiming aspect of the Warp Ripper may be why some players are unable to wield Trinity properly, as they are too concerned with surviving (given that they are given so many tools of survivability) that they forget to destroy invaders.
  • Although Trinity can be invincible, it is only so in the hands of decent players, in which if you are too focused on survival, you might need a bit more time to familiarize yourself with Trinity or the game.
• (+) Easy to take out turrets with Trinity's Warp Ripper.
  • This is when Trinity TP works so well. TP yourself in line with the dangerous turret so that the railgun damage will make turret popping even faster.
  • Then use the Warp Ripper to take out the turret.
  • If needed, deploy CF so that you can lock yourself in place to secure taking out the turret.
• (+) If there are 2 turrets that also need to be popped off instead, TP between the turrets you want to take out, and then deploy a CF.
  • Doing so will not be able to use the railgun damage, so do take note it'll take just slightly longer to pop off a turret.
  • A CF will only last as long to allow you to pop off 2 turrets.
• If you are forced to use CF due to dangerous circumstances, ensure you have a safe exit after CF expires.
  • Of course, if not, there's always the option of using TP to get out of there entirely.
• (+) Popping off difficult-to-reach turrets is trivial.
  • Simply TP in between 2 of those turrets on one side for a Roc.
  • Deploy CF, and then get to work to pop off the 2 turrets.
  • There should be enough time to get job done.
  • By TP-ing upfield, the advantage is that while popping off the turrets, you may get enough particles for a second CF to pop off a turret or 2 on the other side as well.
  • If you predict that you won't get enough for a second CF, you can opt to eliminate the middle 2 difficult-to-reach turrets instead.
  • Remember that shuriken launchers are of no issue since you can simply TP away from the impending shuriken cloud.
  • You can use CF Phase Out to get back downfield.
    • If you need just a bit more time to pop off an intended turret, then just TP back down, which works just fine too.
  • Popping off dangerous difficult-to-reach turrets on Condors and Rocs make surviving these long battles trivial.
  • The same can be done on Condors, although you can also opt to go for the cornermost top row of turrets as well which can also be dangerous.
• (-) Because of Trinity's forward placing of the ship core, there is a bit less time to respond to dodging bullets if you are intending to use a TP without a CF.
• (+) One of the highest level of invincibility tactics of Trinity lies in the fact how well the time slowdown of TP and the Phase Out of CF works together.
  • In the last 0.1s of Phase Out, it is possible to graze bullets to gain Aura for another CF.
  • Executed well in MIRV Hell missions, by pre-charging TP before CF expires, you can safely graze tons of bullets, giving you enough Aura during this 1s (in real time, since TP slows time by 90%).
  • When you have arrived at your new spot, another CF can be instantly deployed.
  • You can repeat this process ad infinitum to survive, just don't do it consecutively since TP still needs to recover.
  • 1s in real-time is a lot of leeway time so you can afford to simply only make use of 0.5s just to be safe and still graze tons of bullets to be able to deploy another CF.
  • This tactic requires lots of practice but once mastered, makes Trinity simply invincible.
• (+) Because of CF's Phase Out, yet another technique is possible.
  • You can TP to anywhere outside of the CF, then quickly head back into the CF to make use of the Phase Out time.
  • This technique can be very useful if you want to desperately get rid of some turrets on smaller invaders such as Herons and Ravens, or simply get rid of the severely weakened invader entirely, since the railgun does damage
  • Because TP needs to cool down, don't do this technique more than twice in a single full size CF.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B-

• (+) CF can be used as a positional tool to aid killing invaders. Be sure to deploy as centrally as possible (with respect to the invader distribution).
• (+) Trinity TP adds additional DPS. A good speed optimization technique is to use Trinity TP just before the next wave arrives fully.
  • The railgun can then do additional first strike damage on top of the Warp Ripper.
  • Just be careful not to do it if you already over abused TP.
• (-) No other means to deal additional damage.

Fun Factor: B+

• (+) Trinity TP is one of the most satisfying to pull off due to the extremely satisfying pop sound the railgun gives off when it hits its target.
  • It is also a unique sound that is exclusive to Trinity.
• (-) Boring Warp Ripper rattling impact sounds.
• (-) The invincibility of Trinity, is also part of why Trinity is generally a more boring ship to play since it's easy to play Trinity half awake once you know how to use CF properly.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Trinity were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Trinity was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v2.5.
• Trinity is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD.
• Although Trinity technically has a unique Zen, under the Zen filter, if TP is selected, Trinity also appears as one of the filtered ships.
• Unfortunately, quite a huge part of Trinity is not replicated in Phoenix 2, when coming over from Phoenix HD. The Warp Ripper in Phoenix 2 is replicated from the first of Trinity's weapons in Phoenix HD, and the Trinity's Darkfire shot after teleporting to its new location is also replicated. Unfortunately, the orange blasters and the purple orbs from Trinity in Phoenix HD are not replicated in Phoenix 2, not even in its apexes.
• Ships in Phoenix 2 no longer have descriptions, but since Trinity was brought over from Phoenix HD, the description given to Trinity in Phoenix HD is: Experimental ship that slows down time and can teleport over short distances. From the description, it may be the reason why Trinity was assigned the Aura of Chrono Field, since Chrono Field can slow bullets down (unfortunately, not time).
• Trinity has its own shorts video showcase on Firi Games FaceBook.
• Trinity was teased in the Firi Games' FaceBook by only showing the Warp Ripper's impact on invaders:
  https://www.fb.com/watch/?v=10154501797046078
• Here's a photo of how the unique Trinity Teleport looks like in action:
  
• Here are some 3D versions of Trinity back in the predecessor game Phoenix HD:
  
• And this is how Trinity looks like in Phoenix HD:
  

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Apexes

Phi (Chrono Deep Field) - ¢45.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): X [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): X [No significant change]

• Encourages aggressive gameplay, going upfield all the time.
  • This takes full advantage of the Deep Field ability to slow down turrets.
• (+) Increases survivability as you could TP right onto a dangerous turret and deploy CF on top of them to slow them down so that dangerous turrets has less chance to pump out bullets.
  • In particular, while Trinity can survive anything, MIRVs are still a problem for it as CF does not eliminate the problem (but simply delays it).
  • This is really useful especially against Condors and Rocs that can have really deadly turrets.
• (+) The increase in CF range also allows CF to cover more turrets, so it becomes safe for Trinity to be on top of more turrets to pop them off.
  • The increase in CF range is enough to cover all turrets on a Vulture.
  • This is useful since dangerous turrets tend to appear in pairs on the cornermost turrets of a Vulture.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B- [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B- [No significant change]

• (+) The increase in CF allows Trinity to have more horizontal safe space to take out invaders with the Warp Ripper.
  • Useful in waves where Sparrows emit continuous dart streams.

Fun Factor: B+ [No change]

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Delta (Trinity Teleport Darkfire Blast) - ¢20.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: S

This apex makes the railgun that Trinity fires upon arrival from TP explode on impact with an invader, with a very small blast radius. Damage is unchanged. The blast damage is AP if the invader's cockpit is within the blast radius.

Survivability (Daily Missions): X [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): X [No significant change]

• (+) Takes out multiple Sparrows easily.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [+]

• (+) Respectable AoE damage from the railgun.
• It is a great idea to stress fire the railgun with blast damage on denser waves where the opportunity arises.
  • A good idea is to use it when at least 3 Ravens are within the blast radius.
  • Also a good idea if its 1 Raven and 2 Sparrows, or 3 Sparrows together.
  • Just remember to allow TP to cool down.
  • Sometimes, given the need to stress use TP for its railgun damage, it may no longer be worth to start a new wave with the railgun damage since TP needs time to cool off.
• (+) It is also very beneficial to abuse the technique where you can TP to outside the CF to deal respectable blast damage and then head back into the CF since this can be done easily.

Fun Factor: A- [++]

• (+) The blast damage on the railgun is fun to abuse.
• (+) Watching multiple Sparrows disappear from the railgun is satisfying.

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Wraith

Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Full Offence (FO)
+

Main Weapon: Electron Laser

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Capacity = 400ms
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Medium
• Very thin forward firing beam that lasts a short while
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): B-
Survivability (Community Missions): B-

• VL is the only means of survivability for Wraith. It is the last resort get out of jail card.
• (=) The Electron Laser can be used to pop off turrets to some extent.
  • Without crits, it takes 2 bursts of the Electron Laser to pop off a turret on a Vulture.
  • With crits, it reduces to 1. But relying on crits is unreliable.
• (+) VL can also be used to pop turrets off since most, if not all of the Unprotected Ravens are dead from MB.
• (+) If you find a few remaining troublesome Ravens that still remain after an MB, VL is an option to eliminate them.
• (-) Difficult to charge MB properly without good defence.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X
Speedrunning (Community Missions): X

• The Electron Laser has a cycle time of 1.2s. Use this fact to optimize it.
• Wraith's Electron Laser takes quite some time to get used to. It is best seen as a slider. You start from one side, then slowly sweep to the other side as invaders on the side you start from goes down.
• Optimization of the Electron Laser is important but annoying in early waves. Under normal circumstances, one burst of the main will eliminate a Sparrow and a Raven. It is also capable of clearing up to 4 Sparrows.
• However, the most annoying thing about Wraith is when crits come up. Under crit circumstances, it will eliminate 2 Ravens, while under normal circumstances, it will only eliminate 1 and damage the other Raven.
  • Thus, you must have a lot of experience with Wraith, and react very quickly the very instance you hear the crit sound.
  • This is more so in early waves. In later Acts, VL takes care of Ravens
• (-) The Electron Laser and VL are competing damage means.
• (+) VL and MB means insane crowd clearing capabilities.
• Learn to slot the Electron Laser between throwing VLs.
  • Easier than done however, and the only way this comes about is through lots of piloting experience with Wraith.
• Remember that it is not always faster to charge MBs. If a wave can be mostly eliminated using VLs, barring a few Sparrows and less than 2 Ravens, this should be done.
• (+) Wraith is so fast that unless 2 heavier waves are right after each other, it's better to VL sweep one wave, and then MB the other.
  • By heavier waves, this means having at least 2 Eagles and 2 Herons, or having a Vulture on field.
• Wraith may have to setup MBs at strange locations slightly more upfield and sometimes also offset to one extreme side in order to have MB go off successfully.
• Obviously, VL sweeping is a hugely important aspect in playing Wraith.
  • This has to be extremely quickly, much faster compared to most other ships, even other FO ships due to Wraith's thin Electron Laser.
• Sometimes, it's better to have the Electron Laser be wasted at the end of the wave.
  • This allows you to use a VL immediately on the next wave, and then the Electron Laser can be used to damage something else, rather than the VL and Electron Laser compete with each other for damage.
  • This also means that you should do this only if you do not intend to charge MB in the next wave.
• In the case you should be charging MB on the next wave, allowing the Electron Laser to finish off the last invader is a good idea.
  • But if only if it's a Heron or larger.
  • Don't prioritize using the Electron Laser to finish off a wave, VL sweeps are first priority over using the Electron Laser to finish off the wave.
• In the excess of particles, VL can be used against even Eagles. One crit burst of the Electron Laser and one VL will kill an Unprotected Eagle.
• (+) It is advantageous to use VL to ride up bullets.
  • This allows you to rise above shuriken clouds or pellet spreads, to allow maneuvering space to VL sweep or use the Electron Laser effectively.
  • Most VLs are precious, so don't do this too often unless particles are in excess.
• Always VL sweep light waves, unless it's Wave 1 of an Act.
• For even more tips on how to speedrun with Wraith, refer to this website:
  https://p2myth.club/docs/Cookbook/Wraith

Fun Factor: S-

• (+) With double forms of AoE damage, Wraith is frighteningly fast.
• Its MB and VL leave no mercy for its victims.
• (+) Very annoying Electron Laser to use since it’s both very thin and the cycle time of the Electron Laser is pretty strange as well.
• (=) Average Electron Laser impact sounds.
• (-) The ship core positioning is ok, but Wraith is entirely blue, which makes it pretty hard to see the ship core.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Wraith were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Wraith was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.0.
• Wraith is VERY SLIGHTLY asymmetrical (no, i am not talking about the Gamma Apex, the base form). If you zoom in to the left outermost edge of Wraith, you can see a small dark colored flap that extends just slightly, making the left backward sweeping wing just slightly longer than the right wing.

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Apexes

Lambda (MB Extended Range) - ¢30.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B- [No significant change]

• (+) The difficulty of Wraith to set up MBs (thus charging MB a bit more downfield) mean that the extended range allows Wraith to hit upfield invaders better and particularly wipe out Unprotected Ravens where not normally possible.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): HX [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): HX [+]

• (+) Allows Wraith to charge at strange positions on field, including on one extreme side and rather upfield. The extended range MB will still be able to catch some Unprotected Ravens and Sparrows that are more downfield.
  • This is particularly on waves with Condors, together with Ravens and Sparrows.
  • This is necessary sometimes because of how some bullets will inevitably be field, particularly dart spreads which can really make things difficult.

Fun Factor: S- [No change]

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Gamma (VL High Capacity) - ¢15.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B- [No significant change]

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): HX [+]

• (+) Because Wraith is so fast at wiping dense waves with MB and VLs, sometimes the amount of particles on field can get a LOT.
  • Sometimes 2 VLs is enough to wipe an entire wave because the column has so many Ravens.
  • And supporting damage from the Electron Laser can also make it easy to catch out smaller invaders that are a bit offset from the columns where VLs are thrown. This just goes to show how frighteningly fast Wraith can be.
  • This means it's easy to overfill on particles, so this apex alleviates that.
• (+) The stockpile of 5 VLs can then be used against heavier waves to great effect, even as Wraith is slightly less equipped against those types of waves.
  • You don't even need an MB when you stockpile 4 VLs anymore, just throw them all and the wave will be gone in an instant.

Fun Factor: S- [No significant change]

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X-81

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: AIM-540 Mantis

• Average DPS = 25
• Homing = Perfect
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Medium
• Projectile Speed = Very Slow, then Fast
• Single missile that is fired forward in an alternating left-right fashion which stop for a while, and then accelerate towards turrets (or cockpits if no turrets available, or Sparrows if no other invaders on field left)
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+
Survivability (Community Missions): C

• (+) The AIM-540 Mantis missiles are pretty unique.
  • The AIM-540 Mantis missiles are lethally efficient. It’s basically an auto turret popping system where it will immediately target another turret after the current one is destroyed.
  • It will NEVER target dead turrets or the cockpit (the latter only targeted only if it's the only invader other than Sparrows left on field with all its turrets dead).
• (=) You can direct the AIM-540 Mantis missiles to hit the turrets you want destroyed by being in front of the turrets you want destroyed.
  • If you are in front of a dead turret, the missiles will re-target the nearest turret.
  • Because of this, don't go near to invaders, otherwise the AIM-540 Mantis missiles will hit the hull of invaders instead, hindering the turret popping capability of X-81.
  • It's better to be downfield because of this.
  • Unfortunately, sometimes there are too many turrets around, especially in denser waves so turret targeting can be very difficult.
• (-) Poor at dealing against Sparrows since the AIM-540 Mantis missiles don't explicitly aim for them unless all other invaders are dead.
  • Sparrows that produce deadly continuous dart streams are a big problem, and you should use ICs to clear them out.
• (-) No laser defence.
  • Strafe to one side to avoid lasers.
  • You can also go upfield, above invaders, to avoid lasers.
• (-) However, bear in mind that the AIM-540 Mantis missiles can get blocked by the RNG movement of invaders in front when the missiles attempt to hit turrets behind.
• (-) Despite automatically disarming invaders by itself, X-81 will suffer in crowds.
  • Particularly, because the AIM-540 Mantis missiles constantly re-targets, it will sometimes strip off the shields of other invaders, and then leave it alone because it will re-target something else.
  • It's very difficult to control where you want to aim because of a lot of dodging needed.
  • This frequently causes the shields of invaders to re-generate.
• There are 2 ways you can deal with this. First, you can stockpile ICs and spam them on one side of the field to clear out Ravens and Sparrows. You can then reach the larger invaders behind.
• Another way is to use ML. ML allows you to punch a hole in one side of the invaders so that you can reach the backline larger invaders to stun. The main can then reach its turrets to pop off, so long you stay on that side. This method is more preferred and its not difficult to pull off.
• Due to its lackluster DPS in clearing out downfield, it can be difficult to reach back row invaders to stun with IC.
• The only solution is to charge ML as much as you can before the next wave enters. This is made easier since the missiles have some travel time after being fired. As the last of the wave clears out, you can take your time to fire off one missile, charge ML, then fire off another missile if the wave is still not cleared out. If the wave is cleared out, the ML can then proceed to charge which would complete faster than other ships.
• (+) X-81 is the only ship where it is highly possible to have a completely useless larger invader (Eagles and above) standing in front of you, with no turrets alive.
  • When that happens, start charging ML. The invader will self-destruct after some time. You don't need to do anything.
  • This guarantees that ML can be fired on the next wave.
• It is obvious that due to IC, X-81 is excellent against Condors and Rocs.
  • Use a first ML for initial damage, then stun the Condor or Roc.
  • Strip the shield using the AIM-540 Mantis missiles first before charging a second ML.
  • You can charge a 3rd ML if it's a Roc and it is the last wave.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+

• Try to get the AIM-540 Mantis missiles to be blocked by downfield Sparrows, as this will save a lot of time.
• On the other hand, it's actually a good idea to leave the most upfield Sparrows for last to clear out the wave.
• Use IC in order to damage invaders that have not been hit by the AIM-540 Mantis missiles so that they will not have a chance to regenerate their shields.
• (+) ML is the primary way to go fast. It is quite abusable since the AIM-540 Mantis missiles takes time to reach the last few invaders, so with correct estimation, you can start charging ML very early.
  • Stunning invaders with IC also allow charging ML more than once, especially against Condors and Rocs.
• (+) In earlier waves, IC helps to clears out Sparrows.
• When speedrunning, even when the last invader has no turrets left, fire off just enough missiles such that the last missile impact will destroy that invader.
  • Since the missiles requires some time to travel, ML will be able to be charged reliably for the next wave.
  • This is significantly faster than simply letting the invader self-destruct.
  • This will usually require firing off one missile at a time, fake charging ML for a very short while.

Fun Factor: A-

• (+) The AIM-540 Mantis is a very unique main weapon, with a firing animation that is very cool to watch in action.
• (+) Seeing the end result of turretless invaders floating about helplessly puts a smile on your face.
  • Even Ravens (a bit more rare, but can happen if they are allowed to regenerate their shields, Eagles and Vultures are not spared.
  • In the middle of a wave, if you see an invader with no turrets left, you can shift yourself to the other side of the field and deal with the rest of the invaders so as to avoid scenarios where a AIM-540 Mantis missile gets blocked by that useless invader.
    • Then laugh as that invader self-destructs moments later.
• (=) Although pretty automatic, getting the AIM-540 Mantis missiles to target what you want can be difficult.
• (+) Quite satisfying impact sounds from the AIM-540 Mantis missiles.
• (-) Pretty strange shape of X-81 with a pretty strange ship core position.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of X-81 were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• X-81 was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.0.
• The AIM-540 Mantis look like mini-versions of X-81 themselves, without more explicit wings but only flaps.
• The AIM-540 Mantis used to be 21.25 DPS before the v3.5 update.
• Prior to the v4.5 update, X-81 Beta used to fire both missiles at the same time, which caused both missiles to usually hit the same target. Thankfully, at the v4.5 update, this is no longer the case and one of the missiles now accelerates 50ms before the other one of the pair does, avoiding scenarios where both missiles hit the same target at the same time, also giving a bit more time for the second missile to re-target.
• The dev EL had initially thought X-81 would be too strong due to its active turret targeting system, which explains the reason why it was initially only maximum 21.25 DPS.
• The X-81 is inspired by the Grumman X-29, a real life plane, with pretty much the same design. The dev EL, being a jet enthusiast, immediately saw the reference, even though he did not came out with the design.
• It's main weapon, the AIM-540 Mantis was inspired by the real life missile AIM-54 Phoenix.
• X-81 is the cheapest Super Rareship to fully ult and get both its apexes, coming in at only ¢37.300 (¢3,000 for buying X-81, ¢9,300 for fully upgrading, ¢10,000 for the Beta Apex & ¢15,000 for the Gamma Apex), assuming you buy everything with your own credits (including buying to unlock the ship itself).
• Here's a capture of the cool animation of how the AIM-540 Mantis missiles work. It slides out from the underbelly of X-81 in a diagonally upward direction:
  

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Apexes

Beta (Main Weapon Twin Launchers) - ¢10.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: S

This apex splits the main weapon's AIM-540 Mantis missiles into 2, firing 2 missiles in a single burst, while keeping the DPS same. One missile accelerates towards its target 50ms before the other missile. Here's how the Twin Launchers for AIM-540 Mantis looks like:

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C+ [+]

• (+) Elimintes dense crowds faster.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A- [++]

• (+) Significantly more efficient in dealing against Sparrows since one burst of the AIM-540 Mantis now deals against 2 Sparrows.
  • Unfortunately, it's not always perfect and the fast speed of the AIM-540 Mantis missiles can sometimes miss because there is still a chance that both missiles in the same burst will target the same Sparrow.
  • Sometimes, if the AIM-540 Mantis missiles are targeting other invaders, Sparrows can unintentionally get caught in the flight path, which is a good thing as well.
• (+) Takes down Ravens much faster too, since it takes 3 missiles to take down a Raven.
  • Compare this to 2 missiles from the base version, the 1 additional missile from this apex can be re-directed to another Raven and take it down with one less burst of the AIM-540 Mantis.
• (+) Generally speaking, deals against dense waves more quickly, especially when there are many Sparrows and Ravens.

Fun Factor: A [+]

• (+) Even better visual spectacle and slightly better audio experience to see the action of more AIM-540 Mantis missiles flying about and hitting invaders.

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Gamma (IC Overcharge) - ¢15.000

Value: D-
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C [No significant change]

• (+) Stuns all turrets of Condors with only 1 IC, making Condors a lot more survivable.
• (+) Possible to stun all turrets of a Vulture with only 1 IC, but this requires very precise positioning. Given their lower health, it's easier to simply stun the whole Vulture with 2 ICs.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A- [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No change]

Fun Factor: A- [No change]

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Scuuxun

Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: None in particular

Ship Class: Safer-FO
+

Main Weapon: T'Kari Spikes

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Projectile Speed = Very Slow, then Medium
• Reload Time = Medium
• 5 slowly accelerating forward firing projectiles arranged in a upward chevron pattern, the more frontal projectiles accelerating faster
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): C-
Survivability (Community Missions): C-

• (-) With REMP as its only real defence, Scuuxun has very little to rely on for defence.
• Use REMP wisely.
  • You can use it 1s before the lasers fire so you have enough time to avoid lasers.
• LS is a slight boost as it helps to pop turrets off so that Scuuxun has less to deal with.
• (-) Not very easy to pop turrets off with the T'Kari Spikes. The slow moving T'Kari Spikes make it quite difficult to pop turrets off quickly.
  • But they can get the job done, just maybe not as quickly as you expect it to.
• (-) Very difficult to handle T'Kari Spikes.
  • Rely more on LS and REMP to do the job.
  • The T'Kari Spikes are more of supporting damage.
• Always have an LS going off as far as possible, since that will be your primary form of damage.
• (-) Difficult against denser waves since REMP isn't very strong, and neither is LS.
  • The T'Kari Spikes also take some to eliminate the dense waves as that are only 5 spikes per burst, which may or may not be enough to eliminate one side of the field.
  • Not to mention they travel slowly.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A

• (=) The T'Kari Spikes are slow but hit hard.
  • They are particularly useful against larger invaders such as Eagles or above.
• Since the T'Kari Spikes are slow travelling, Scuuxun should always retreat to the bottom once a wave is cleared as much as possible to allow the T'Kari Spikes to hit their target in the next wave.
• Quickly go up to the center of the action when a new wave starts to stream in from the top of the screen and immediately charge REMP.
• Use LS to clear out Ravens and Sparrows (if REMP is not possible on that wave) quickly. Do not rely on the T'Kari Spikes to do the cleanup of a wave, use LS to do it.
• Try to split the T'Kari Spikes up such that it can be absorbed by 2 Ravens as they will be taken out quickly.
• If it's possible to stay behind larger invaders such as Herons or larger, but still be able to land REMP on all invaders on field, then do so to not waste the T'Kari Spikes powerful damage.
  • However, it is more important to land the AoE damage from REMP as that will deal more damage than the T'Kari Spikes.

Fun Factor: A-

• (+) REMP and LS are both fun to use.
• (-) Extremely difficult to handle T'Kari Spikes due to the sluggishness of the main weapon.
• (-) Slightly forward ship core positioning, which is a little strange.
• (=) Despite the T'Kari Spikes hitting hard in terms of damage, the impact sounds don't quite match up to its power.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Scuuxun were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Scuuxun was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.0.
• Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Tau Apex of Scuuxun was teased on the Instagram page of Firi Games:
  

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Apexes

Tau (REMP Extended Range) - ¢40.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): C [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): C [+]

• (+) Increase in bullet clearance range.
• (+) Also means easier to avoid incoming laser fire, which can be difficult for Scuuxun due to its slightly infrequent bursts of T'Kari spikes.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [+]

• (+) Allows you to stay behind some larger invaders rather than going above them just to have REMP range cover the smaller invaders at the back.
  • This has the advantage of not wasting the T'Kari Spikes' DPS since the slow moving projectiles is pretty much guaranteed to hit the larger invader in front of Scuuxun.
  • Much less wastage of DPS on either overkill damage on upfield smaller invaders or missing a couple of T'Kari spikes.

Fun Factor: A- [No significant change]

• (+) Pretty much guaranteed to land T'Kari Spikes effectively while charging REMP just in front of larger invaders instead of being behind them.

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Delta (Main Weapon Seeker T'Kari) - ¢20.000

Value: B
Cost vs Utility: A

This apex makes the T’Kari Spikes have slight homing capabilities.

Survivability (Daily Missions): C- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C- [No significant change]

• (+) Allows the T'Kari Spikes to hit some invaders which may be difficult to catch due to maneuverability issues, relieving some bullet pressure.
• (+) Hits smaller invaders like Ravens and Herons more easily when downfield, so there's no need to chase them down.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A [No significant change]

• (=) Doesn't really help when playing upfield, which is kind of necessary when needing to have an LS going off at all times, especially when some LS are smaller in size.
• (=) Not really that great at homing either, because the T'Kari Spikes accelerate. If the invaders aren't on field yet, the homing doesn't do too much to correct the path properly at such high speeds of the T'Kari Spikes.
• (=) The speedrunning playstyle of Scuuxun is to push forward just before the wave fully arrives. The homing T'Kari Spikes doesn't really help in that playstyle much, since it helps more when Scuuxun stays downfield to let the T'Kari Spikes home in on targets.

Fun Factor: A- [No significant change]

• (+) A bit less frustration when playing a laidback Scuuxun that stays downfield.

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Shogun

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Shuriken/Boomerang, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, General/Boomerang, General, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: None in particular

Ship Class: Safer-FO
+

Main Weapon: Phantom Katana

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Target Tracking = Instant
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
  
  • (Cone Triggered - Synchronous)
• Rate of Fire = Medium
• Reload Time = Slow
• 4 successive instant tracking infinitely fast and short beams, where the sequence will continue if the pre-determined locked on target is within the 180° forward arc in front of the ship
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+
Survivability (Community Missions): B+

• (-) REMP as its only defence.
• (+) Very strong Phantom Katana for its auto aiming, and yet is 31.25 DPS.
• (+) This also means that you can fully focus on dodging.
• (-) Not able to turret popping effectively due to the auto aiming nature of Phantom Katana.
• (-) Blade Storm also doesn't really pop turrets effectively since it distributes damage throughout all targets in range quite equally.
• (-) As the targeting cone of the Phantom Katana is only 180°, going above invaders will stop the Phantom Katana from dealing damage.
  • This can be a problem when trying to dodge bullets.
  • To avoid this problem, try to stay quite downfield.
• (+) The Blade Storm Aura is far reaching, which means you can hang back downfield quite a bit.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S-

• (+) Like the predecessor game Phoenix HD, Shogun relies a lot on grazing bullets to go fast and spam Blade Storm. To graze is compulsory to go fast with Shogun.
  • Shogun also has a very mild advantage when grazing, gaining slightly more than 2 energy per graze.
• (+) The high DPS of 31.25, and the Phantom Katana leaking absolutely no damage (other than overkill damage), Shogun can wreck fast in the presence of dense waves since the target switching is instant.
• The Phantom Katana works like a infinitely fast and short beam.
  • Damage from the Phantom Katana is sent out from 2 invisible spawn points (one on the left, one on the right, both slightly forward from the Shogun's core).
    • It alternates between the left and right spawn points evenly. Each one is independent of the other.
      • After the invader a spawn point targeted has been destroyed, Shogun looks for the next invader, that is closest to the line of fire that the slash was sent out. In other words, it looks for the nearest invader by angle to the previous target point.
    • This also means that at the start of some waves, by knowing which spawn point will activate, you can go near to a Raven or larger to make the Phantom Katana hit the Raven or larger so that you don't accidentally kill a lone Sparrow.
      • This is especially useful when charging an REMP since wasting one Phantom Katana slash on a lone Sparrow can mean a lot in early waves, and the Phantom Katana usually locks on faster than you can start charging REMP.
  • When the Phantom Katana slashes, the slash travels in a straight line in the direction of the target as determined by Shogun.
    • This also means that this slash can be blocked by other invaders.
    • Conversely, the beam-like property means overkill damage from one slash from the Phantom Katana will continue to travel in a straight line past the destroyed invader.
  • The second fact about overkill damage is what can be taken advantage of.
  • Particularly, in early waves, the Phantom Katana can be lined up nicely such that at least 2 Sparrows will be downed by one slash of the Phantom Katana.
    • It also possible to line up a Sparrow against a Raven such that the Raven gets damaged as well as killing the Sparrow.
    • Lining up other weakened invaders (that go down with one slash) with another behind is also possible, but this is often extremely difficult especially since Ravens move around too quickly. With any other larger invaders, there is no way to determine which target point is the Phantom Katana actually aiming at so there's no point to bother.
• (+) Blade Storm is like a hybrid of MS and LS, in the sense like MS it is disposed of extremely quickly (actually in some cases, even faster than MS since MS requires all its missiles to hit their locked on targets before the next MS is ready) but like LS because it spreads its damage amongst targets quite evenly.
• A lesser known thing about Blade Storm is that it actually works a lot like the Phantom Katana, in that damage is actually sent out in straight lines from Shogun itself.
  • It can be thus said that the Blade Storm, at ult level, is like sending out 20 weaker Phantom Katana slashes of 5 damage each.
  • This means that any invader blocking the way of a straight line in the intended target for will absorb the damage instead.
  • However, unlike Phantom Katana, Blade Storm slashes work more like sending out a single projectile of 5 damage with infinite speed, as any overkill damage is fully absorbed by the invader instead of continuing to travel forward.
• (+) Despite the apparent lackluster damage of Blade Storm, it is highly spammable due to how quickly it recharges from both the speed from Shogun's gameplay and the slight increase in Aura gain from grazing.
• The idea of playing Shogun is to always allow the Phantom Katana to go into action first.
• (+) Always aim to finish off a wave with the Blade Storm.
  • Wasting Blade Storm damage is much less than wasting Phantom Katana damage.
  • If there is an opportunity to dispose of Blade Storm in midwave, but still get enough Aura for at least a 3/4 sized Blade Storm Aura, do it so that you won't overfill on Aura.
  • This requires a lot of understanding how much different sizes of Blade Storm can kill, with only comes from experience with playing with Shogun.
• (+) The poor capability of Shogun to pop turrets off actually works in Shogun's favor in speedrunning due to the bullet hell it is exposed to.
  • When overwhelmed with way too many bullets to dodge properly, REMP can save you.
• Use REMP to open up a wave whenever possible to deal as much AoE damage as you can.
  
  • However, it may not always a good idea to open up with an REMP at the start of the first wave of an Act.
  • Sometimes, the next wave is more viable to use REMP.
  • In such cases, using Phantom Katana and Blade Storm are better to clear out the lighter wave.
• To prevent the powerful Phantom Katana from wasting time to kill Sparrows that are already going to be killed by REMP, go above all the Sparrows to launch REMP.
  • Remember that one cycle of Phantom Katana is 4 slashes.
  • This fact means that sometimes, it can actually be beneficial to waste the one slash of Phantom Katana if there is only 1 slash left in the cycle so you will not suffer waiting for the Phantom Katana to reset in the next wave, if one slash could not kill the next wave.
  • This technique is generally more relevant for early Acts since later Acts require many more Phantom Katana slashes anyway, so you are bound to hit the cooldown time between Phantom Katana cycles.
• For much heavier waves where you are expecting to use Blade Storm more than once, it is a good idea to have both REMP and Blade Storm work simultaneously.
  • First, prepare yourself in position to charge REMP.
  • Wait for the wave to arrive, then trigger Blade Storm before immediately charging REMP.
  • Blade Storm will always last for 0.75s so the remaining 0.15s after REMP has went off can then spread out to the remaining surviving invaders.
  • Since REMP isn't very powerful, the Blade Storm will weaken the invaders enough for REMP to possibly kill these invaders.
• Always let the Blade Storm be in range of all invaders where possible, so that you can deliver the finishing Blade Storm blow to all invaders for that wave.
• For even more tips on how to speedrun with Shogun, refer to this website:
  https://p2myth.club/docs/Cookbook/Shogun

Fun Factor: S

• (+) Very nice rhythm to the Phantom Katana since the 4 slashes sound like some kind of music with a 4/4 beat.
• (+) Very cool and impactful Phantom Katana impact sounds. Each slash sounds quite true to a real life samurai's katana slash (you can faintly hear the metallic shing sound).
• (+) Very fun to spam Blade Storm. The cumulative slashing sounds from Blade Storm is very satisfying, as well as the visuals of the Blade Storm going off.
• (+) Almost no RNG associated with Blade Storm compared to its counterpart MS.
• (+) For an extremely fast speedrunning ship, there's not much need to aim, especially in later Acts.
  • Yet, the Phantom Katana has such high DPS, which matches a lot of the speedrunning ships out there.
• (+) The lack of need to aim manually also makes Shogun a pretty stress free ship to casually speedrun with.
• (+) REMP to deal great AoE damage.
• (-) Slightly more forward ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Shogun were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Shogun was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.1.
• The Sigma Apex of Shogun, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly referred to Siggun in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Shogun is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD.
• Here's how Shogun looks like in Phoenix HD:
  
• Shogun's Aura is unique to itself. Its Aura also has the highest radius in the game when maxed.
• According to the dev, the Blade Storm Aura could pass off as sort of biohack tribal tattoo.
• The original Blade Storm Aura had a Yin Yang theme, but this was reduced as the Aura became cleaner as updates went by.
• According to the dev, the Blade Storm Aura was based on summoning circles mixed with Neji's attack range diagram as shown below:
  
• It would not had been possible to replicate its weapon from Phoenix HD in Phoenix 2, as every slash in Phoenix HD is done on the invaders by one graze of a bullet. The pure volume of bullets in Phoenix 2 would thus make it too OP.
• Unfortunately, there is an aspect of Shogun from Phoenix HD which is not replicated at all in Phoenix 2, even in its apexes. When Shogun goes close to invaders in Phoenix HD, it unleashes an electric beam to the invaders.
• Just like the katana slashes in the predecessor game Phoenix HD, the color of the slashes change. However, they only change between main weapon level upgrades. The image shows at which level does Shogun's main change color.
  
• Ships in Phoenix 2 no longer have descriptions, but since Shogun was brought over from Phoenix HD, the description given to Shogun in Phoenix HD is: An advanced ship for elite pilots. Its weapons are powered by flying dangerously close to enemy bullets and ships. This description has some truth in it. The first part is probably true due to how offence oriented Shogun is, but the second part is true in the extent that the Blade Storm Aura is increased by flying close to enemy bullets.
• According to the devs, the balancing of Shogun, including its main weapon and unique Blade Storm Aura, took around 2 months, including prototyping, testing, playing, changing playing, etc.
• Shogun has its own preview gameplay video by Firi Games.
• The graze animation for Shogun Epsilon is also different, using a turquoise slash instead of the traditional red one. Unlike the normal graze effect, there is also an additional turquoise electric spark effect between Shogun's core and the graze slash. This could be a reference to Phoenix HD, the predecessor game of Phoenix 2, as Shogun in Phoenix HD had a close combat weapon that activates an electric spark. However, the electric sparks made in Phoenix HD were darker blue in color, more like royal blue.

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Apexes

Epsilon (Graze) - ¢25.000

Value: S-
Cost vs Utility: B

This apex increases the amount of Aura gained per graze, as well as slightly increasing the minimum graze distance from a bullet / laser. There is no visual difference in Phantom Katana.

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

• (+) A bit more damage from Blade Storm to eliminate invaders faster.
• (+) Easier to graze means more leniency and a bit less likely to die.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S- [No significant change]

• (+) Allows you to graze even more bullets more easily, the more dense the bullet hell gets.
• (+) You can basically just keep spamming Blade Storm all the time.
  • Especially against dart or pellet spinners, It is possible to just keep spamming Blade Storm until the whole wave is cleared.
  • Being trapped between more than 2 spinners is a bliss now more than a pain, since the Aura increase becomes insane. The fast disposing nature of Blade Storm sometimes may not even be enough before the next Blade Storm Aura is completely refilled. Well, who cares, right? Just spam Blade Storm away.
• (=) Doesn't make a huge difference in early waves though.

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

• (+) Very easy to feel the effects of this apex, even if you are not such a good player.
  • A very good apex for a pretty casual Shogun player who just wants to have fun playing Shogun.
• (+) Watching your Blade Storm Aura increase even faster is very satisfying.
• (+) Not to mention being able to spam Blade Storm even more, even on heavier waves.

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Sigma (REMP High Damage) - ¢35.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

Survivability (Daily Missions): A- [++]
Survivability (Community Missions): A- [++]

• (+) Kills armored Ravens significantly faster.
• (+) Kills Unprotected Ravens instantly.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X [++++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): HX [++++]

• (+) Extremely powerful apex.
• (+) Extremely viable in Unprotected missions, since Unprotected Ravens go poof instantly.
• (+) Significantly faster, which means that Blade Storm can sometimes be fired immediately after the REMP. In later waves, Blade Storm can be fired much earlier rather than waiting for the Phantom Katana to cut down the total health of invaders on field.
• Don't do the strategy of releasing Blade Storm then release REMP since that will waste REMP damage with this apex.
  • But if it's against waves that only have Herons or larger, then this strategy can still be viable.
• The speedrunning strategies with this apex is pretty much the same as base Shogun, just that you need faster reflexes and also need to re-adapt to when you can finish off a wave with Blade Storm.

Fun Factor: X [++]

• (+) Crushing Unprotected Ravens instantly is an extreme joy.
• (+) Crushing Armored Ravens significantly faster is also very satisfying.
• (+) Makes Shogun frighteningly fast, which accelerates the pace of Shogun even further, causing high adrenaline rushes.

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NC-271

Strong against: Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Plasma Cluster

• Average DPS = 37.5
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Projectile Speed = Slow
• Reload Time = Slow
• 21 projectiles fired in a general forward direction with a very small spread
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+
Survivability (Community Missions): B

• (-) Because of the infrequent burst of the Plasma Cluster, it is difficult to play upfield, so NC-271 usually stays nearer downfield.
• Because of the Plasma Cluster's semi capability to deal with Raven and Sparrow crowds, IC becomes a supplement since the burst only happens once every approximately 2s.
  • This slightly covers up IC's weakness of being unable to deal with crowds.
• Don't spam ICs to punch through invaders. Just use the Plasma Cluster to do the cutting through of invaders.
  • Once you cut through one side of invaders, go above and stun the larger invaders upfield
• Instead, reserve the ICs to stun larger invaders such as Eagles and above.
• If there are Eagles in front, you can stun them and then go behind to stun the Vulture or larger.
  • Don't go behind Eagles to stun Ravens. It's just not worthwhile.
  • But you can go behind Eagles to kill Herons immediately if they are threatening.
• (+) Pretty easy to do turret popping with the Plasma Cluster.
  • Since 1 burst of the Plasma Cluster is enough to down the shields of a Vulture, a 2nd Plasma Cluster shot can already pop off a turret.
  • Choose carefully which turrets you want to pop off, because Plasma Cluster bursts only come once every 2s.
• (+) Obviously, NC-271 is best against Condors and Rocs, since IC keeps them stunned and the high DPS destroys them quickly.
• (+) Quite easy to pop off difficult-to-reach turrets on a Condor and Roc, since the Plasma Cluster downs the shield quickly, while ICs keeps these invaders stunned so you can right up to the difficult-to-reach turrets.
  • Against a Roc, you will need at least 4 ICs to get the job done.
  • Make sure the "mouth" of NC-271 slightly overlaps the difficult-to-reach turret, otherwise the turret may not be downed in one burst.
• (+) Use PS to defend against lasers.
  • It can also be used against bullets, but reserve it primarily for lasers unless there aren't any in that wave.
  • Try not to use it against speed lasers unless necessary, since those don't deal much counter offensive damage.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+

• One burst of the Plasma Cluster is once every 2s. Use that to plan your shots carefully.
• (+) Highly damaging Plasma Cluster clears out large invaders very fast.
  • 4 bursts of the Plasma Cluster kills a shielded Vulture.
  • 2 bursts of the Plasma Cluster downs the shield of a Roc.
  • 1 bursts of the Plasma Cluster kills a shielded Heron just nice.
    • If any Sparrows get in the way, then the Heron cannot be destroyed.
    • In this scenario, you can simply throw an IC at the heavily damaged Heron to destroy it.
    • This has the added benefit of potentially damaging some other invaders, or freezing some invaders in place for easier landing of the Plasma Cluster.
• (+) The Plasma Cluster can be considered somewhat piercing since the burst contains so many little projectiles that it continues to punch through the smaller invaders like Sparrows and Ravens even after they are killed.
  • Use this to your advantage to line up shots with 2 Ravens, or multiple Sparrows.
  • Go as close as possible to your first target in the column you intend to fire the Plasma Cluster so there'll be a higher chance that it will hit whatever you are intending to hit behind.
• (+) Due to the large number of individual projectiles from the Plasma Cluster, there is very little overkill damage, which means the damage is almost like a beam in some sense.
• Reserve ICs to be used opportunistically where possible.
  • If 2 Ravens come very close to each other, overlapping each other slightly, immediately throw an IC to stun both of them in place and then use the Plasma Cluster to eliminate them both.
  • You should even use IC to kill a Sparrow if it's far away and alone, since you should not waste the Plasma Cluster on it. It's better to waste some overkill damage from IC.
  • Of course, it's even better if you can kill 2 Sparrows with one IC.
  • Against larger invaders, try to only stun with 1 or 2 ICs to conserve ICs for opportunistic moments in the next wave.
  • Of course, if you are overflowing on particles, just use ICs normally to stun larger invaders where needed.
  • Remember that stunning invaders also mean more maneuvering space, which is great in aiming the Plasma Cluster.
• (+) PS can be used if there are sufficient lasers on screen to deal huge counter offensive damage.
  • However, remember that the Plasma Cluster's DPS is very high, so only use PS for laser reflects if there are like more than 5 lasers that can be reflected.
  • If it's not worthwhile to use PS for laser reflect, stun the laser turrets instead.
  • Particularly, stun the annoying speed lasers since those do very little counter offensive damage.
• (+) If PS isn't worthwhile for laser reflect, it can be reserved so that you can get to other invaders more quickly by activating PS for a split second.
  • Ensure one burst of the Plasma Cluster goes off first, then charge PS.
  • At the very moment PS is active, exit PS and use Phase Out to cut across some bullets for better repositioning to hit the Plasma Cluster.

Fun Factor: B

• (+) Strangely satisfying impact sounds from the Plasma Cluster since all the projectiles are so close to each other.
• (+) The perceived piercing ability of the Plasma Cluster is pretty fun, especially against Ravens and Sparrows.
• (-) Hunting down Sparrows is a difficult task.
  • And so is aligning 2 Ravens together to kill them both.
• (-) The pretty weird asymmetrical shape of NC-271 makes the ship core positioning feel slightly strange.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of NC-271 were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• NC-271 was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.2.
• NC-271 is asymmetrical, unlike most ships.
• NC-271 is one of the only 2 ships that has its name printed on the ship itself, the other one being its "predecessor" ship NC-150.
• It might have been possible that NC-271 has an SB Plasma type weapon, Ion Cannon and Personal Shield as its kit since it is a "successor" ship to NC-150, which also has an SB Plasma type weapon & Personal Shield. The Ion Cannon projectile could be canonically the next generation of invader turret stun technology over Stun EMP, as it even stops invader movement.
• It was the only SB ship with 37.5 DPS before the v5.0 update. In fact, it was only in v3.5 that it's main weapon damage was buffed to 37.5 DPS. It also used to have a slightly tighter weapon spread before v3.5.
• Visually, there can be anywhere from 271 particles or above in a single burst, and this is random, according to the dev EL. Perhaps that's how this ship got its name? You can try counting it for yourself in the image of the Plasma Cluster above...
• The Delta Apex of NC-271 is labeled FG-104 as seen on the apex itself.
• A fan art of the NC-271 Beta apex made by aluminumgum was re-posted by Firi Games on FaceBook:
  

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Apexes

Beta (PS Supersize) - ¢10.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B+ [+]

• (+) Gives NC-271 better maneuvering capability from the increase in Phase Out distance when dealing against bullets.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A- [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

• (+) Catches a bit more lasers, especially from laser spreads, for laser reflection damage.

Fun Factor: B [No significant change]

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Delta (IC Blast Amplifier) - ¢20.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B [No significant change]

• (+) Easier to catch Sparrows in the blast range of IC.
• (+) Downs Ravens slightly faster.
• (+) Can now use ICs to punch a hole in one side of the field to reach upfield larger invaders to stun.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A- [++]

• (+) Powerful against dense waves.
• (+) IC becomes a viable offensive AoE to throw against Ravens and Sparrows alike.
  • Spam IC to kill these smaller invaders quickly.
• (+) Much less hunting down of Sparrows since more Sparrows can be caught in the blast radius of IC.

Fun Factor: B+ [+]

• (+) Less Sparrow hunting.
• (+) More responsive AoE damage from IC.

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Predator

Strong against: Shuriken/MIRV, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Dual Blaster

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Fast
• Reload Time = Medium
• 11 sets of 2 close side-by-side forward firing projectiles
  

Survivability (Daily Missions): A-
Survivability (Community Missions): A-

• (=) Very technical and surgical gameplay.
  • Requires using barriers to precisely block off boomerangs and cutting off bullet lanes.
• (+) Part of the standard barrier technique is still employed where possible. You would place a large barrier around the invaders to make use of the inner lining.
• After the large barrier is deployed, head back downfield and stay behind the barrier as usual.
• Then look for the most invader dense spot and place a smaller barrier such that the top edge of the barrier is where you want to be, as close as where you can be.
• You need to wait for the right opportunity where it is comfortable for you to head slightly above the barrier to place your smaller barrier.
  • If no such opportunity exists, then you have no choice but to deploy the smaller barrier when you are positioned yourself closest to the edge of the larger barrier.
• Once the smaller barrier is deployed, quickly head into the barrier (it will not last long), and release an REMP to deal the damage.
  • REMP thus primarily becomes an offensive tool.
  • All these must be done as quickly as possible when the wave arrives.
  • This technique is what i like to call "barrier extension".
• After using REMP, sweep on only one side of the field so that the Ravens will be mostly gone. Then do the same for the other side.
• (-) Predator's Dual Blaster is pretty thin, so it might be hard to land shots on rapidly moving Ravens.
• (+) Easy to pop off turrets with the Dual Blaster. Landing one full burst on a Vulture turret immediately pops it off.
• (-) At later waves, it may become too dangerous to deploy barriers upfield.
• This is when surgical barriers matter.
  • Deploy barriers such that crowds of invaders are just outside the barrier.
  • This blocks off their bullet fire very effectively.
  • Release REMP at the edge of the barrier just before the barrier's Phase Out is over so you have more breathing space.
  • Particle conservation is very important here in order to keep on deploying small barriers to keep out bullets.
• At the end of every wave, there should be enough time for you to quickly go upfield to deploy a new barrier.
  • If not, since the Dual Blaster is pretty thin, just waste some time to cool off the bullets and then place the barrier upfield.
  • The newly deployed large barrier can also help you out to destroy the last few Ravens more easily.
  • Just beware not to take your time to destroy the Ravens after the barrier is deployed since the barrier can only take so much damage.
• (+) To avoid lasers, deploy a barrier around yourself just before the lasers fire.
• Always allow one burst of the Dual Blaster to go off before charging REMP.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A-

• (+) Optimal REMP positioning can deal respectable damage.
  • Try to clear off as many dangerous turrets on field as possible.
  • Since Predator's DPS isn't exactly that high, and neither is REMP, it's not too difficult to pop off many turrets before a wave is wiped out.
• (-) Unfortunately due to its technical gameplay, if you don't kill fast enough, you can run into end-wave problems which require you to dodge a lot.
  • Because the Dual Blasters spread is thin, you will waste DPS.
• One burst of the Dual Blaster destroys up to 2 Ravens when optimized properly.
  • With REMP, it can kill up to 3 Ravens.
• 3 bursts of the Dual Blasters take out 2 Armored Herons.
• Knowing how to sweep effectively with the Dual Blaster is a key part of going fast with Predator.
  • Especially in early waves, where REMP won't be able to kill all Sparrows in every wave.

Fun Factor: A

• (+) Pretty easy to handle Dual Blaster.
• (+) Great impact sounds from the Dual Blaster.
• (+) Pretty unique gameplay which uses Barrier differently from many other barrier ships.
• (+) REMP does respectable AoE damage.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Predator were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Predator was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.2.

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Apexes

Delta (REMP High Damage) - ¢20.000

Value: S-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): A [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): A [+]

• (+) Kills Armored Ravens significantly faster.
• (+) Wipes out Unprotected Ravens clean off the field.
  • Thus, viable in Unprotected missions as well.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [++]

• (+) Just deals more AoE damage in general across all invaders.
• (+) Significantly easier to do Dual Blaster sweeps across all Ravens on field.
  • One good sweep and all the Ravens damaged by the REMP are gone.

Fun Factor: A+ [+]

• (+) Satisfying Dual Blaster sweeps to clean the field off of heavily damaged Ravens.

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Alpha (Barrier Reinforced Lining) - ¢5.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): A [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): A [+]

• (+) Generally, a good buff to defensive capabilities.
• (+) Prolongs the time you have to pop turrets off from larger invaders.
  • Popping off the more dangerous turrets first allow you opportunities to pop even more upfield barriers.
  • This significantly increases the defensive capabilities of Barrier.
• (+) You can deploy many more upfield barriers now.
• (+) Thus, REMP can be more easily used for AoE damage instead of clearing bullets.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A- [No change]

• (=) A good speedrunner doesn't really need the additional defense to pull off optimal REMP placements.

Fun Factor: A [No change]

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