X-81
The ship that looks like a fighter most.
Basic Info
- No: 66
- Ship: X-81
- Affinity: Shield Breaking
- Type: Balanced
- Main Weapon: AIM-540 Mantis
- Aura: Ion Cannon
- Zen: Mega Laser
- Rarity: Super Rare
- Price: 3000
- Main Description: Single missile that is fired forward, stop for a while and then accelerate towards turrets (or cockpits if no turrets available, or Sparrows if no other invaders on field left).
- Upgrade Info:
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Ult |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DPS | 20.00 | 21.00 | 22.00 | 23.00 | 24.00 | 25.00 |
- Test Results:
| Main | Aura | Zen | Survival | Survival Tier | Speedrun | Speedrun Tier | Fun | Fun Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75.00 | 56.73 | 90.55 | 30.55 | C+ | 20.73 | C+ | 27.82 | C+ |
| APEX1 | APEX2 | Base Score | Base Rank | Low Score | Hi Score | Apex Rank | Final Score | FinalRank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48.00 | 29.09 | 222.27 | 74 | 251.36 | 270.27 | 76 | 349.36 | 79 |
- Main Weapon Illustration:
Survival
- X-81 has a pretty unique main weapon. Its 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 main weapon 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 target the nearest turret that is still alive on the invader in front of you. If the invader has no turrets left alive, it will target the next invader with turrets that are still alive, or the cockpit of that invader if it's the only invader alive other than Sparrows.
- As much as possible, don't go near to invaders, unless you are intending to take out Sparrows. Otherwise, it will hinder X-81 from doing its disarming job. Always be at the bottom of the field.
- The only exception is when you are strafing to avoid lasers, where you should go above the invaders.
- However, bear in mind that shots can get blocked by the random movement of invaders in front when the missiles attempt to hit turrets behind, which can sometimes appear like the missiles are still targeting dead turrets.
- Despite this lethality of disarming invaders, X-81 will suffer in crowds. This makes it very difficult to pilot in daily missions, which makes mixed bullet mission types very difficult.
- 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.
- X-81 considers Sparrows of least threat and will only target them last after all other invaders on field are dead. Sparrows that produce deadly continuous dart streams are a big problem, and you should use ICs to clear them out.
- It’s completely automatic targeting system (the only in its IC class, as in Sonah you still have some control over targeting) means nearly no control in aiming especially in crowds where Ravens are moving all about with little certainty of which one you will be targeting.
- Due to its lackluster DPS in clearing out front rows, 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.
- It is obvious that due to IC, X-81 is boss against boss invaders (Condors and Rocs), due to the near infinite stunning of such invaders. It is reasonable to do a IC then ML combo about 3 times. However, you should use its SB main weapon to strip the shield first before using ML to take advantage of the SB nature of its missiles.
- Excess ICs can be used to clear out crowds of Sparrows.
Speedrun
- ML is one of its main tools to go fast. It is very abusable since the main weapon takes time to reach the last few invaders, so with correct estimation, you can start charging ML very early.
- 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
- X-81 has a very unique weapon firing animation that is very cool to watch in action.
- Seeing the end result of the havoc left behind by the main just makes you smile when you see all the invaders completely defenseless, even Ravens, Eagles and Vultures.
- In the middle of a wave, if you see an invader with completely no turrets left, you can then shift yourself to the other side of the screen 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, and then laugh as that invader self-destructs moments later.
Trivia
- X-81 was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.0.
- Its main weapon used to be 21.25 DPS before the v3.5 update.
- 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 (by Rogier).
- It's main, the AIM-540 MANTIS was inspired by the real life missile AIM-54 Phoenix.
APEX 1
- Name: Twin Launchers
- Type: Main Weapon
- Description: Launch twin missiles from each launcher.
- Interpretation: nan
- Form: Beta
- Price: 10000
- Score: 3.00 / 5
- Main Weapon Illustration:
This apex splits the main missile into 2, firing 2 missiles at a time, while keeping the DPS the same. One missile accelerates towards its target 50ms before the other missile.
Lethally efficient in dealing with Sparrows, and taking down Ravens slightly faster, this apex makes clearing dense waves slightly easier. Each smaller missile now kills a Sparrow, instead of overkilling a Sparrow with the original one missile. However, the targeting system is not perfect and will still target the nearer Sparrow horizontal distance wise, thus, the 2nd missile may fly off without hitting anything. However, it is a boost when Sparrows “accidentally” get caught up in the pathing of the missile to other invaders since there is less DPS being wasted on these Sparrows blocking the way.
APEX 2
- Name: Overcharge
- Type: Aura
- Description: Overcharged Ion Cannon stuns targets in a larger area.
- Interpretation: The blast radius increases from 50 to 115.
- Form: Gamma
- Price: 15000
- Score: 1.82 / 5
This apex allows you to spam fire IC to mass stun crowds if Ravens immediately after launching ML to punch a hole in frontlines to stun the upfield larger invaders with deadly weapons. This works very well to stop any lasers which are firing from Ravens, as well as increase manuveurability so that you can circle around the Ravens to stun the upfield larger invaders where needed. This apex also buys more time for you to deal with one side of invaders before you can punch your way through and go up that side to avoid invader fire. However, it can be a bit luck based when you come to dense waves as invaders cluttering up and blocking the way can make it hard to stun dangerous turrets such as T4 lasers or spinners on an upfield invader.