I have had a lot of luck with a navigator/martyr combo.
I like to aim it at a site right behind the target, but so the trajectory of the sub takes it incredibly close to the place I really want to destroy. As the sub passes, change course and you can hit within a couple of hours. If you know when your competitors are sleeping, this can be a very powerful approach.

Martyr is a strange specialist, I don't see it as a strong specialist but when I see a Martyr starting to lurk around my borders I make sure it can't get close to my Queen so I do react strongly to opponents that are using them. It definitely affects my decisions and play in the game.

If I'm hiring a Martyr - it usually means I am in a bad spot in the game and need as many deterrents as possible or I can't take the 20% hit to a mine of mine in the late game.

I can probably count 2 times where I used it effectively but still came out with a loss of an outpost. I was basically able to swoop in with a smuggler and martyr and drop it off in time as an enemy sub was bearing down.

The martyr is a nuclear deterrent, and, like all nuclear deterrents, it probably won't actually be used profitably.

But, we all know how well nuclear deterrents work...

I'm currently trying to be ultra sneaky with the Martyr. It's easy to intercept if you send it directly at someone. It's not so easy when you make it fly over the target outpost and get an ally to intercept it with a pirate....

Ultra sneaky...
https://youtu.be/YOKYxJGyJ5k

reaper1984 wrote:Ultra sneaky...
https://youtu.be/YOKYxJGyJ5k

Real nice coordination! Looks like brown was trapped even though he had that Helmsman with his Queen as his generator was going to be taken to.

I recently set a trap for an opponent.
I had an outpost near my boundaries with his captured general at it.
He had a large concentrated force including specialists.
I tried to make that outpost look appealing for him to take. I even had an infiltrator or something retreating to it. It kinda looked like he could swoop in, rescue his general, and eliminate my infiltrator.
But outside of his vision I had a smuggler and martyr. If my opponent had launched, I could swoop in the martyr and then evacuate.
Unfortunately he didn't bite

I agree the martyr is really difficult to use. We may need more time to figure out good tactics for him (her?)

You can conspire with someone on the other side and shoot a matyr at him and then have him intercept it over the base of someone between you two. You can use it as a bunker buster for an entrenched queen or 10 second behind your forces so if your forces lose, the bomb will prevent anyone from capturing them. You can have a pirate with a martyr and defend many bases with it. You can have a navigator and a martyr and chase people's queen around and because of the navigator people can only target it with a pirate.

rlin81 wrote:You can conspire with someone on the other side and shoot a matyr at him and then have him intercept it over the base of someone between you two. You can use it as a bunker buster for an entrenched queen or 10 second behind your forces so if your forces lose, the bomb will prevent anyone from capturing them. You can have a pirate with a martyr and defend many bases with it. You can have a navigator and a martyr and chase people's queen around and because of the navigator people can only target it with a pirate.

I think the last one is the only really good combo with a martyr. If you don't have a pirate you can't counter it.

I don't really like the martyr. I had one in my last game who had three of them around my outposts trying to threatening me. He moved one together with 68 drillers and I intercepted it with a pirate when it was in range of one of his outposts. To save his factory he gifted them to me, so instead of losing a pirate I got a martyr and 68 drillers. Then he tried to blow up the outpost with my queen, he even sent some drillers in front of it to avoid me just sending a single driller to intercept her. Problem was my sentry who killed most of his drillers and I just needed ten to get past his sub and blow up his martyr while nothing was in her radius. The last one sat on an outpost together with a navigator. I feared he would send them together but instead he just launched it alone at another player's mine. The martyr arrived there after the game was over, but even if not a single driller could have intercepted the martyr. I think this shows how hard it is to use a martyr to your advantage. It's really rare that you are able to make a play where she does something for you. Most of the time you can't use her or she is simply countered and sometimes your opponent can even use her against you. This player here used three of his hires for specialists that did nothing for him, propably lost his first place because of this.

rlin81 wrote:You can conspire with someone on the other side and shoot a matyr at him and then have him intercept it over the base of someone between you two.

I TOTALLY want to try this