New Strategy: Drones with Subverters !

RiTz21 · #1 January 3rd, 2003, 06:20 AM

Hi !

I was wondering if Drones can CAPTURE ships - I tested this by creating a drone with a Subverter and attacking a target ship ... (I changed the drone's strategy to "Ship capture" instead of "Drone Attack"

and it works !!

Not only did the drone nicely captured the target, but the next turn, it was ready (and fully functionnal) to target other ships ... !!

S C A R Y !! (unless you have a master computer)

Now an important question: If the Master Computer of a ship is destroyed, can that ship be captured by the Subverter ??

RiTz21
P.S. I did not try with boarding Parties... but I suspect it would be similar...

Krsqk · #2 January 3rd, 2003, 06:29 AM

I don't know if you could give a unit the order to capture a ship (ala Boarding Parties). I know early P&N had fighter-based Swashbuckler Pods which didn't work.

In 1.78, ships with destroyed MCs can be subverted. I remember a couple of changes in the latest history which addressed this, but I think one of them cancelled the other one out. Not sure what the result was.

Cheeze · #3 January 3rd, 2003, 07:12 AM

Odd...I can't say I had ever thought of setting a ship equipped with Allegiance Subverter to "Capture Ship". I was under the impression that the "Capture Ship" strategy was only for Boarding parties, so that the attacking ship would seek out an unshielded enemy and attempt to get next to it.

Ritz21..when you used this strategy, did the target ship have shields? It seems like the "Capture Ship" strategy causes that ship to run away from any shielded ships and cower in a corner. I would like to know if this idea works consistently. When playing a psychic race, I might equip warships with both Subverters and Boarding Parties, in case the first weapon doesn't hit the ship might be boarded and seized!!

Phoenix-D · #4 January 3rd, 2003, 08:12 AM

I don't know if you could give a unit the order to capture a ship (ala Boarding Parties). I know early P&N had fighter-based Swashbuckler Pods which didn't work."

Subverters work differently than that, and they do work on units. Well, on Drones at least, I haven't tested them on other units.

Phoenix-D

Krsqk · #5 January 3rd, 2003, 09:10 AM

"Subverters work differently than that, and they do work on units. Well, on Drones at least, I haven't tested them on other units."

They do work on everything but troops (which would be a nightmare in ground combat). I was responding to his P.S., and then back to his main point.

Ruatha · #6 January 3rd, 2003, 09:50 AM

There seems to be an AI race that uses Drones with subverters on a regular basis.
Alligience subverters don't require shields to be down.
But I agree that the strategy "Capture ships" should make the ship hide until shields are down on the enemy as the strategy indicates we intend to use boarding parties, wich by the way can't be added to a drone, can't put units on a unit, I was told.

PvK · #7 January 3rd, 2003, 11:32 AM

Boarding parties aren't units, they're components.

Mephisto · #8 January 3rd, 2003, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ruatha:
There seems to be an AI race that uses Drones with subverters on a regular basis.
Alligience subverters don't require shields to be down.

The Torons.

Arkcon · #9 January 3rd, 2003, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RiTz21:

Now an important question: If the Master Computer of a ship is destroyed, can that ship be captured by the Subverter ??

RiTz21
P.S. I did not try with boarding Parties... but I suspect it would be similar...

For now, yes. After the next patch, no. The plan is for the Master Computer to function like an antisubverter component, intact or destroyed.

It's only fair, really, if subverter drones are around.

Cirvol · #10 January 3rd, 2003, 04:42 PM

is it just me or is the subverter too powerful a weapon?

i mean seriously, all the psychic race needs to do is match up destroyers vs battleships, 1 for 1, and win with subverters...

it seems WAY unbalanced imho, (i don't like using master computers, because they are expensive, and really only cost effective on ships larger than battleships)