Malta are still suckers

Now, some of you may remember that I posted a long-winded rant about the changes to Malta AI back in I14 when a whole host of AI changes happened, and for those who don't remember it, let me remind you:

Prior to I14, Malta soldiers were really nasty, but there were a few little tricks a player (say an enterprising Blaster) could exploit to outsmart them and beat them at their own game. Gunslingers have a host of really nasty attacks, such as an Ice hold that they can cycle about as quickly as it recharges, an AoE fire bullet that does a LOT of damage and is AoE and a bunch of regular handgun attacks. However, they only used those at long range. Staying close to them, like 5-10 feet or so, would cause them to only cycle their handgun burst. It was nasty, but quite tolerable. Malta Titans have a variety of nasty attacks, such a whole host of missile swarms and a couple of plasma blasts. However, again, staying close to them caused the Titans to only ever cycle their bash melee attack, which while still strong, was survivable.

So, come I14, all of that changed. Suddenly, all Malta soldiers were using all of their attacks, and it was NASTY. Oh, sure, I discovered that keeping away from Tac Ops, say 40-50 feet or farther, would cause them to fire their rifles repeatedly and NOT throw stun grenades, but even that was a small consolation when compared to the horror that were full-tilt Gunslingers and Titans.

Fighting them now, I'm starting to spot something interesting. While Titans will still fire their entire array of missiles and blasts even if you're close enough to hit them at the new melee range (7 feet), something wonderful happens if you approach point black within old melee range (5 feet or less). Suddenly all of their missile swarms halt, their blasters fall silent, and the Titans resort to swinging their fat arms around, just like before. Apparently, the old trick still works, but I need to be a LOT closer for it to take effect. Which is really cool, because it gives these titans a very, very cute Achilles' heel that only a really cheeky Blaster would even think to exploit - run into their faces and stay in melee the entire time.

I've yet to experiment whether Gunslingers suffer from the same tactical limitations, but if they do, then I might just have found a good way to tackle these guys once again. And, before you guys axe me for exploiting bugs in the AI, let me just explain that I find this kind of system of strengths and weaknesses to be a GOOD thing. It both requires one to know his enemies, and it represents an actual tactical choice in a game where tactics so often come down to "hit it until it dies." I like the fact that the Vahzilok, for instance, are hideously difficult to fight, yet suffer from enormously short sight and aggro radius, making them susceptible to crafty tactics of division and trap-laying.

Malta having specific weaknesses is GOOD.

*edit*
Unfortunately, Gunslingers do not appear to be subject to these tactical limitations. They fire their handguns just fine even at the closest range I can get to without hugging them. TacOps, on the other hand, aren't using their Stun Grenades at close range, and indeed avoid using their rifles, as well. Instead, they stick to Brawl and (annoyingly) Taser. I can't say that's that big a step up, though being tasered is certainly not as bad as being flashbanged. The bigger problem is the inability to outwit Gunslingers, as their damage and status effects can be devastating when combined with their unnecessarily high accuracy. Still, making Titans a bit less of a threat IS a step up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Interesting find! And it's rather easy to rationalize them working that way: You don't wanna shoot a missile at someone that's right in front of your face, due to the splash damage hitting you nearly as much as them!

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Good info to have for the few of us that actually enjoy giving Malta a proper beatdown.

They still seem too irritating to actually fight. Oh well. Honestly, its the chain stun grenades that kill me (I have no status protection). While I can certainly clear a Malta mission, I dont actually enjoy it.

Next group, please!

Lewis

Very interesting find, although I manage to rarely fight Malta any more.

Also, the phrase you are looking for is "point blank" not "point black".

@SpaceNut - My 50s, AE arcs and current projects at ParagonWiki

...and u notice all this...maybe u should fight more..

for me its simple...kill them till they die. and dont worry about what they have...

They should worry what i have

My best tactic against Malta are to mez them. I make sure all my characters have some kind of mez just in case I come across troublesome mobs.

Just out of curiosity, what kinds of builds steamroll Malta the best? Of these, which also have no problems with Carnies? But mainly, I'm wondering about which powersets dont even notice that Malta have powers? I figure it'd be something with Mez protection. But beyond that, which armor sets let you totally not give a crap?

I dont play a lot of melee types so I'm just curious.

Lewis

My Stone Armour tanker never worries about Malta- rooted cancels any energy drain, and defense armours are enough that they miss a lot. If somehow i do get too many, granite fixes that.

As for Carnies, the same and more, because i have very high psi defense as a stone tanker. The only thing that annoys me is the Mask of Vitriation (sp?) the Dark Ring Mistresses have, that seems to ignore my defense completely

I dont worry about malta much on my blasters. Soft cap range def,and continue spamming aoes. Mez,sapping,damage, none of it matters when it doesnt hit you. And blasters dont give them many second chances to try again.

But in general I ignore Malta in the first place. There are tastier fish to fry that require much less effort for the return.

But if you like the challenge, have a go at them without IOs. Then yep, they are still pretty nasty.

My Inv/SS tank steamrolls all kinds of things, including Malta and Rogue Vanguard.

Y'see, steamrollers slowly roll over and crush everything in their way.

I like going after Malta with my Plant/Psi. Seeds of Confusion is just so great against them.

Well, Sam, you've got me thinking about something now.
I'm going to have to get on my Electric Brute tomorrow morning and play with Sappers to see how different ranges provoke them. [Grounded] ftw!