[Taqwus]

Also keep in mind that baseships are SLOW and rather fat targets, and that affects what tactics work; for instance, WMGs have a nice 30% +hit bonus, which is useful for shooting ships that are smaller than bases at range 8...

Null-space weapons are a wash when you're up against *fast* opponents with good-range guns and a tweaked maximum-range strategy; you just won't get in range. APBs and other low-damage weapons also suffer against large amounts of crystalline armor...

Besides, you need a balanced fleet. For instance, in my current low-tech game (nearly over), my Grand Fleet consists of 54 BBs including both combat ships (plasma missiles, beamer [ shield accelerator / tachyon cannon / PPB ], bomber, biowarfare, point-defense) and non-combat (warp create/close, nebula destroyer, black hole destroyer, minesweeper, shipyard, sensor/scanner). It's well-suited for engaging an enemy regardless of whether they have fighters, beamers, or missile boats...

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night