How are satelites useful?

[LordZon]

I hate how they all come out on one side of the planet. So all the computer has to do is hide on the farside of the planet. Is there a way to launch satelites all around the planet? Instead of in a clump on one side?
Also, I like have prelaunched satelites ( so they don't take up space planetside) but they are all in a clump when the battle starts.

Thanks

[Gurduloo]

I've heard people talk about leaving satellites in uncolonized systems as a lookout, especially with cloaking tech. I agree that they're not much use for planet defense, I use fighters and weapons platforms instead.

[mottlee]

Lg sat....miner III Zero maint and till minerials are depleted pure profit in some mods this about only income you get

[geoschmo]

With missles or direct fire with sattelite mounts, being on the wrong side of the planet isn't a problem. 100 small sats = 100 CSM's with room for 100 PDC. Even if the enemy has tons of PDC, that gives them something to shoot at and allows your fighters to Last longer and do more damage. Plus if you are talking about the AI, they don't always do a good job of staying out of range of the sat's.

Sats alone aren't impervious, but they are a nice compliment to your fighter/WP defenses.

Layers, planetary defense is all about layers!

Geoschmo

[Gurduloo]

Ok, I can see your point. I have a newbie question about that... when you have 100 satellites at your planet, does it cost anything to maintain them? And do they take up any cargo space on the planet's surface, or are they in orbit?

[geoschmo]

No maintenance either way.

If they are on the planet they take up cargo, and are not used during combat, except I guess to absorb a little damage during orbital bombardment.

Once they are launched they take up no cargo space on the planet and can fire in combat. Unfortunatly unlike fighters the AI will not launch sats during combat, so if you are playing simultaneous turns, you will want to make sure you launch them before.

Geoschmo

[mottlee]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gurduloo:
Ok, I can see your point. I have a newbie question about that... when you have 100 satellites at your planet, does it cost anything to maintain them? And do they take up any cargo space on the planet's surface, or are they in orbit?

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Maint= NO
Cargo= on planet YES Off=NO

[Val]

I always liked using a cloaked sat at a WP to monitor the system. Then I would hide another one in system (also cloaked), people would find the one and not realize there was a second (or third) in the system.

Also, a bunch of armed Sats make an excellent addition to a station guarding a WP, and are a LOT easier to get there.

[Gurduloo]

Is there a limit to how many satellites you can have orbiting a planet/WP?

[Suicide Junkie]

Default is 99 PLUS the number that one of your vehicles can deploy in one turn.
Planets can launch 1000 in one turn, IIRC, so the limit is more 99+ planetary cargo capacity in that case.

The highest you could set the limit WAS 5,000. In the latest patches that has been increased. 20,000 IIRC

[ 12 March 2002: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]